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Bravest  of  the  Brave 

Captain  Charles  de  Langlade 


By  Publius  V.  Lawson,  LL.  B. 

Author    of    "Family    Genealogy" 

V 


ENTERED  ACCORDING  TO  ACT  OF  CONGRESS 

IN  THE  YEAR  1904 

BY  PUBLIUS  V.  LAWSON 

IN  THE  OFFICE  OF  THE  LIBRARIAN  OF  CONGRESS 

AT  WASHINGTON 


PRESS  OF  THE 

GEORGE  BANTA  PUBLISHING  COMPANY 
MBNASHA,  WISCONSIN 


TO  MY  WIFE,  WHO  ALSO  ENJOYS  THE  STORY  OF 

LONG  AGO,  IN  COLONIAL  DAYS,  ALONG 

THE  TOMAHAWK  TRAIL 


CONTENTS 


INTRODUCTORY— Captain  Charles  de  Langlade    ...      13 

I.    The  birth  of  Charles  de  Langlade,  at  Old  Mackinaw,  on 

the  frontier,  of  French  father  and  Indian  mother     .       .     19 

II.    At  ten  years  of  age  he  goes  out  on  his  first  war  path, 

as  a  mascot  for  the  Ottawa 24 

2       HI-    Sieur  Augustin  de  Langlade  moves  with  Charles  to  La 
Baye,  the  site  of  the  future  Green  Bay,  and  becomes  the 

first  settler  and  father  of  future  Wisconsin      ....     30 

-- 

IV.  At  the  battle  of  Butte  des  Morts.  The  tradition  of  Marin's 
Vengeance.  Black  Bird,  a  Sac  boy,  shoots  the  command- 
ant of  La  Baye.  De  Langlade  was  in  the  battle  which 
drove  the  Sac  to  the  Wisconsin  river 37 

V.    De  Langlade  leads  the  Ottawa  to  the  sack  of  Pickawil- 
^  lany,  the  Village  of  La  Demoiselle,  head  chief  of  the 

tn  Miami  Confederacy.  The  first  battle  of  the  great  French 

and  Indian  war 46 

o 

VI.    Charles  married  to  a  beautiful  French  daughter  of  the 

Old  Mackinaw  settlement 55 

•        VII.    De  Langlade  is  given  command  of  the  Northwest  sav- 
<j  ages  at  the  beginning  of  the  French  and  Indian  war.  He 

leads  them  to  Fort  Duquesne 58 

O 

O       VIII.    1755.    De  Langlade  commands  the  savage  warriors  at 

Braddock's  defeat,  on  the  Monongahela,  and  wins  this 
W  celebrated  battle 63 

IX.    1756.    Appointed  Commandant  at  Grand  River.    Is  made 
^  Ensign  of  Infantry.     Stationed  at  Duquesne.    Ordered 

on  a  scout  to  Fort  Cumberland.    Attempts  the  capture 
of  an  English  paymaster's  money  chest       .        .        .        .101 

X.  1757.  De  Langlade  discovered  Colonel  Parker  out  with 
a  scouting  party  on  Lake  George;  ambushed  them  with 
the  Ottawa,  capturing  many  prisoners.  At  the  capture 
of  Fort  William  Henry.  Promoted  to  second  in  com- 
mand at  Old  Mackinaw  .  107 


Contents— Continued 


XI.  1758.  De  Langlade  under  Montcalm  at  the  famous  de- 
fense of  Ticonderoga,  where  three  thousand  French 
defeated  the  English  army  of  fifteen  thousand  .  .  121 

XII.  1758.  Charles  de  Langlade  again  at  Fort  Duquesne, 
where  his  Ottawa  ambush  Major  Grant.  On  his  return 
home,  is  forced  to  make  a  feast  of  rattle  snakes  .  .  127 

XIII.  1759.    Unhappy  Canada.    De  Langlade  among  the  very 

few  honest  men  in  public  services          .       .       .       .       .135 

XIV.  1759.    Wolf,  Montcalm  and  De  Langlade  at  the  capture 

of  Old  Quebec         -.  ...    139 

XV     1760.    The  Bourbon  Banner  comes  down  at  Old  Mackinaw  .  160 
XVI.    1763.    Pontiac— Massacre  at  Old  Mackinaw  ...    175 

XVII.  1777.  In  American  Revolution,  De  Langlade  leads  the 
Western  savages  to  join  Burgoyne's  Invasion.  Jane 
McCrea.  The  Battle  of  Bennington 197 

XVIII.    1778.    De  Langlade's  Red  war  hatchet  sent  among  the 

Wisconsin  Indians  to  raise  them  against  the  Colonists     .    217 

XIX.  1778-1780.  Colonel  George  Roger  Clark  captures  the  Eng- 
lish posts  in  the  Illinois  region  and  strikes  terror 
throughout  the  west .228 

XX.  1780.  De  Langlade  leads  the  tribes  to  the  massacre  of 
St.  Louis:  and  is  defeated  by  George  Roger  Clark  in  the 
attack  on  Cahokia  .  236 


XXI.    Last  days  of  De  Langlade 


.    251 


ILLUSTRATIONS 


Braddock's  Defeat  .  Frontispiece 

De  Langlade,  an  ideal .12 

Massacre  of  the  Foxes 38 

Hill  of  the  Dead  - 40 

Rattle  Snake,  a  Winnebago  Chief 65 

Ivory-handled,  silver-mounted  flint-lock  pistols  ....  80 

His  Frontier  Trunk 105 

De  Langlade  Crossing  Lake  Michigan  in  Midwinter  .  .  .120 
Sword  de  Langlade  Received  from  King  Louis  XV,  and  His  Red 

British  Captain's  Uniform 130 

Wisconsin  and  Michigan  Tribes  on  the  St.  Lawrence  .  .  144 
De  Langlade  Requesting  Orders  to  Attack  Command  of  General 

Wolf 154 

Lieutenant  de  Langlade's  Commission  from  King  Louis  XV.      .  166 

Colonel  De  Peyster 199 

On  the  Banks  of  Fox  River 226 

Madame  Charles  de  Langlade  at  Montreal 234 

Massacre  of  St.  Louis 242 

Laclede's  Stone  Mansion,  St.  Louis 245 


CHARLES  DK  LANGLADE 

This  half-tone  is  from  an  ideal  pen  and  ink  drawing  made  by  Master  Harold  Kim- 
berly  Lawson.     No  likeness  of  the  frontier  ranger  can  now  be  discovered. 


THE  STORY  OF 
CHARLES  DE  LANGLADE 

CHARLES  DE  LANGLADE,  born  on  the  far 
frontier,  where  he  lived  all  his  life  and  died 
before  the  settler  had  crossed  the  Allegheny 
Mountains;  fought  in  ninety-nine  battles,  many  of 
them  the  most>celebrated  in  American  colonial  his- 
tory; fascinated  by  the  charm  of  the  hunters  life, 
the  forest  was  an  open  book  to  him;  one  who  never 
knew  fear;  a  matchless  leader  of  the  Indian  bands 
of  a  dozen  savage  tribes,  who  followed  him  as 
children  their  father,  hailing  him  as  "The  Bravest 
of  the  Brave;"  an  honest  man,  living  in  partial 
poverty,  when  by  the  example  of  peculation  all 
about  him,  he  could  have  amassed  fortunes;  a 
Creole  of  Old  Mackinaw  and  LaBaye,  yet  rose 
steadily  by  promotion  until  he  received  a  commis- 
sion from  King  Louis  XV;  recognized  by  both 
French  and  English  Governors  of  Canada;  the 
idol  of  the  habitants,  a  simple,  honest,  brave  man; 
a  character  of  his  time,  whose  life  filled  with 
thrilling  episodes,  stands  out  unique  in  the  annals 
of  the  border  ranger  of  America.  American  his- 
tory has  no  parallel  among  those  brave,  hardy 
bushmen,  who  beat  back  the  wolf,  panther  and 
wild  cat,  or  the  barbarian  host  of  more  savage 
men,  and  blazed  the  path  for  the  coming  millions 


14  CHARLESDELANGLADE 

of  civilization  in  the  Great  Lake  Reg-ion  and  the 
Ohio  Valley. 

Langlade  was  a  pioneer,  born  at  Old  Mackinaw, 
and  with  his  father  located  the  village  of  LaBaye, 
the  future  Green  Bay,  and  became  the  Founder  of 
Wisconsin. 

When  yet  a  boy  but  ten  years  of  age,  he  first 
went  out  with  an  Ottawa  war  party  to  sack  a  Wea 
town;  and  as  soon  as  located  in  Wisconsin,  while 
yet  a  youth,  he  led  the  habitants  and  Menomonee 
against  the  Fox  Indians  at  Butte  des  Morts;  and 
soon  after  scattered  the  Sac  from  the  Green  Bay 
Village.  He  was  born  to  a  soldier's  life. 

None  were  found  so  brave  as  to  attack  old  Bri- 
tain, the  head  Chief  of  the  Miami  Confederacy, 
until  word  was  sent  to  de  Langlade,  when  he 
called  his  Ottawa  and  Ojibwa  savages  about  him 
and  marching  three  hundred  miles  to  the  banks 
of  the  Maumee,  killed  the  chief,  and  destroyed 
their  village,  thus  fighting  the  first  battle  in  the 
coming  French  and  Indian  war,  in  which  he  fol- 
lowed every  campaign  to  its  close,  traveling  more 
miles,  and  fighting  more  battles,  than  any  one 
else,  in  that  long  and  sanguinary  contest,  when 
France  lost  a  continent,  and  England  cradled  the 
revolution. 

He  led  the  Northwest  tribes  to  the  defense  of 
Duquesne,  and  scattering  his  savages  through  the 
forest,  slaughtered  Braddock's  army;  an  event 
which  made  Washington  a  commander.  Two 


CHARLES    DELANGLADE  15 

years  later  his  forest  denizens  gave  the  war  whoop, 
and  charged  up  the  hill  to  slaughter  Grant's  com- 
mand in  defense  of  the  same  fort. 

He  was  with  Montcalm  in  the  trenches  behind 
the  abattis  at  Ticonderoga,  when  Abercrombie's 
army  met  defeat,  and  retreated  before  one  fifth 
their  number.  He  led  his  savages  with  Montcalm 
to  the  capture  of  Fort  William  Henry.  When 
Wolf  came  to  capture  Quebec,  de  Langlade  was 
again  in  command  of  the  Northwest  tribes,  hold- 
ing the  passes  of  the  Montmorency,  and  on  two 
separate  occasions  when  he  saw  the  opportunity 
to  capture  a  third  of  the  army  of  Wolf,  he  was 
denied  either  support  or  orders  to  attack.  At  the 
head  of  his  tribes  on  the  Plains  of  Abraham,  pro- 
tected by  the  forest  along  the  edge  of  the  height, 
continuing  to  pour  their  deadly  shot  into  the  Eng- 
lish ranks,  after  Montcalm's  army  was  in  retreat, 
they  caused  Wolf  himself  to  lead  a  charge  against 
them,  when  twice  injured,  he  fell  mortally 
wounded,  where: 

"The  path  of  glory,  leads  but  to  the  grave." 

Returning  to  Old  Mackinaw,  he  was  ordered  to 
surrender  the  West,  now  a  mighty  empire,  the 
home  of  millions.  When  the  revolution  was  at 
its  height,  he  again  went  down  to  Montreal  to 
join  his  Indian  bands  of  the  West  to  those  of  the 
East  with  Burgoyne's  Invasion.  The  sad  story 
of  Jane  McCrea,  and  their  dead  at  the  battle  of 


16  CHARLESDELANGLADE 

Bennington,  ends  their  history  with  the  unfortun- 
ate General  of  whom  it  was  said,  the  English  peo- 
ple did  not  know  which  to  admire  most,  "his 
sword  or  his  pen. " 

Then  gathering  the  savages  from  their  lairs 
over  seven  hundred  miles  of  river  and  forest,  by 
three  routes  to  St.  Louis  and  Cahokias,  he  led  the 
naked,  painted  host  against  the  Spanish  at  St. 
Louis,  and  defeated,  swung  across  the  river 
against  Cahokias,  defended  by  the  veteran  forest 
ranger,  George  Roger  Clark,  whoheld  the  fort;  and 
the  army  of  the  prairie,  and  the  forest  dissolved. 

To  recount  his  battles,  fought  by  an  army  of 
painted,  bloody  savages,  must  of  necessity,  con- 
tain many  harrowing,  awful  scenes;  but  they  are 
a  part  of  history  and  must  be  told.  De  Langlade 
himself  never  participated  in  these  events,  and 
prevented  them  as  far  as  was  in  his  power.  In 
the  Pontiac  Conspiracy,  he  repeatedly  advised 
the  Commandant  of  the  post  at  Old  Mackinaw,  of 
the  danger  he  was  to  meet,  but  was  threatened 
with  being  sent  prisoner  to  Detroit  if  he  brought 
any  more  "such  old  women  tales  to  him. "  After- 
ward when  the  massacre  did  take  place,  no  one 
has  ever  blamed  de  Langlade,  as  he  was  powerless 
to  prevent  it.  When  he  subsequently  snatched 
the  commander  from  being  burned  alive,  he  did 
it  at  the  risk  of  his  life. 

Our  moral  ideas  of  humanity  cannot  in  anyway 
palliate  or  excuse  the  inhuman  use  of  savages  in 


CHARLES    DELANGLADE  17 

civilized  warfare;  but  in  this  we  must  read  our 
story  in  the  light  of  the  times  in  which  the  scenes 
occurred.  All  people  made  use  of  the  savages  at 
that  period  of  our  history. 

His  lot  was  cast  in  a  corner  of  the  world,  which 
now  floats  other  flags  than  the  banners  under 
which  he  led  his  painted  hosts  to  battle.  Born 
in  1729,  and  dying  in  1800,  he  was  a  hero  in  a  lost 
cause,  and  now  when  history  gathers  the  scat- 
tered events  of  his  life  into  a  story,  it  finds  him 
without  a  country.  His  white  jfleur  de  lis  which 
shimmered  in  the  northern  breeze  over  so  many 
years  of  his  life,  went  down  in  the  northern  skies, 
when  his  brave  Montcalm  was  buried  in  a  grave 
dug  by  cannon  ball  beneath  the  chancel  on  the 
rock  of  Quebec.  While  he  lived  and  the  light  of 
his  brave  soul  went  out,  in  the  land  where  for  a 
century  the  starry  flag  has  held  its  sway,  yet  he 
cannot  be  hailed  as  one  of  the  patriots  of  those 
dark  days  when  Americans  fought  against  hope; 
but  at  last  placed  their  flag  in  the  heavens  to 
remain  there  forever;  yet  his  life  bespeaks  for 
him;  that  it  was  for  liberty  he  fought,  and  always 
for  his  country.  He  was  a  patriot  in  his  way  and 
his  day,  and  gave  the  best  of  his  strength,  fortune 
and  genius  for  his  country,  in  which  all  the  world 
must  admit  him  as  kin. 

There  is  something  marvelous  in  a  people 
and  its  laws,  when  it  can  populate  a  continent 
with  teeming  millions,  clothed  in  prosperity 


18  CHARLES DELANGLADE 

and  fortune,  since  the  close  of   de  Langlade's 
life. 

While  he  made  the  long,  tedious  journey  to 
Montreal  over  the  rapids  of  the  French  river,  and 
the  forty-two  portages  of  the  Ottawa  in  thirty- 
five  days  to  two  months,  or  three  months  by  lake 
and  river,  the  swift  engine  now  lands  its  passen- 
gers in  a  day.  In  those  days  the  habitant  was  ice 
bound  half  of  the  year- with  only  one  journey,  and 
return  possibly  in  the  year. 

In  gathering  the  material  for  the  story  of  his 
strenuous  life,  we  have  among  other  authorities 
consulted :  "Th  eWisconsin  Historical  Col  lections ;" 
"The  Conspiracy  of  Pontiac, "  Parkman;  "Mont- 
calm  and  Wolf,"  Parkman;  "The  Province  of 
Quebec,"  Victor  Coffin;  "The  History  of  the 
United  States,"  Bancroft;  Life  of  Washington, " 
Irving. 

PUBLJUS  V.  LAWSON. 

Menasha,  Wis.,  Nov.  30,  1903. 


THE  BIRTH  OF  CHARLES  DE  LANGLADE  AT  OLD 
MACKINAW,  ON  THE  FRONTIER,  OF  FRENCH 
FATHER  AND  INDIAN  MOTHER 

THE  Lower  or  Southern  Michigan  is  a  very 
large  peninsula  surrounded  by  Lakes  Michi- 
gan and  Huron.  Way  up  on  the  extreme 
north  point  of  this  mainland,  there  has  been  built 
a  modern  city,  which  is  a  railroad  and  shipping 
point  called  Mackinaw  City.  About  one  hundred 
and  seventy  years  ago  this  was  a  wilderness,  and 
a  short  distance  west  along  the  south  shore  of 
the  Strait  of  Mackinac  and  eight  miles  south  of 
Mackinac  Island,  was  located  the  French  military 
post  of  "Old  Mackinaw,"  1712,  by  Major  de 
Louvigny,  a  noted  frontier  captain  under  orders 
of  Governor  General  Vaudreuil  of  Canada.  This 
was  the  most  westerly  post  of  New  France,  then  a 
very  new  country,  when  all  west  of  the  Allegheny 
Mountains  was  wild  prairie  or  wilderness,  inhabi- 
ted only  by  warring  savage  tribes  and  the  few 
hardy  Frenchmen  and  traders,  who  had  made  the 
long,  wild  journey  into  this  far-off  land,  and  were 
stationed  at  the  stockade  fort  at  Detroit,  or  over 
into  the  western  prairie  at  Vincennes  or  Kaskas- 
kia.  From  the  frontier  settlement  of  Three  Rivers 
to  Old  Mackinaw,  came  Sieur  Augustin  de  Lang- 


20  CHARLES    DE    LANGLADE 

lade,  the  first  of  that  name,  whose  family  name 
was  Monet  de  Maras.  He  was  a  trader  with  the 
savages.  His  business  being-  to  bring  by  canoes 
from  Quebec,  iron  hatchets,  knives  and  guns,  as 
well  as  red  blankets,  glass  beads  and  bronze  ear 
bobs,  salt  and  whisky,  which  he  traded  to  the 
Indians  for  beaver,  bear  and  deer  skins  which 
were  transported  by  canoe  over  the  rivers  to 
Quebec  and  sold;  a  trade  which  produced  very 
large  profit,  though  attended  with  much  risk,  as 
the  Indian  made  it  the  special  business  of  his 
life  never  to  pay  his  debts.  This  commerce 
among  the  Indians  was  known  as  trading,  be- 
cause peltries  were  exchanged  for  goods  of  the 
French.  As  it  involved  the  peace  of  the  country, 
the  government  required  those  wishing  to  engage 
in  the  business  to  obtain  a  license  to  trade,  which 
Sieur  de  Langlade  secured. 

About  1727  Sieur  de  Langlade  was  married  at 
Old  Mackinaw  to  Domitilde,  widow  of  Daniel 
Villeneuve,the  sister  of  the  principal  or  head  chief 
of  the  great  Ottawa  tribe,  the  King  Nissowaquet, 
called  by  the  Canadians,  La  Fourche  or  the  Fork. 
This  alliance  with  this  powerful  tribe  gave  Sieur 
de  Langlade  great  influence  with  that  numerous 
nation.  By  this  union  was  born  to  them  at  Old 
Mackinaw,  early  in  May  1729,  Charles  Michel  de 
Langlade;  who  was  baptized  in  the  Catholic  mis- 
sion there,  on  the  ninth  day  of  that  month.  The 
military  post  was  composed  of  several  log  build- 


CHARLESDELANGLADE  21 

ings,  with  bark  roofs,  their  floors  made  of  punch- 
eons, that  is,  poles  shaved  off  on  one  side  to  make 
them  smooth.  In  one  end  of  the  single  room 
there  was  a  very  large  fire-place  made  of  flat  and 
round  boulders,  gathered  on  the  shores,  from 
which  a  wide,  large  stone  chimney  was  carried  up 
along  the  outside  of  the  cabin,  a  foot  above 
the  roof.  All  about  the  premises,  there  was  a 
high,  double  or  triple  picket  fence  or  stockade 
made  of  small  logs  against  which  earth  was  piled 
to  help  hold  them  erect;  and  a  wide  ditch  all 
around  the  outside  to  make  access  to  the  stock- 
ade more  difficult.  At  the  corners,  and  at  inter- 
vals along  the  walls,  houses  like  pigeon  roosts 
were  built  above  this  fortification,  in  such  a  man- 
ner as  to  make  the  floors  hang  over  two  feet,  to 
permit  the  defenders  to  shoot  below  to  protect 
the  wooden  breast  works  from  being  set  on  fire 
by  the  enemy. 

In  times  of  peace,  buildings  were  built  from 
time  to  time  along  the  beach,  so  that  the  settle- 
ment presented  quite  the  appearance  of  a  town 
and  security.  There  were  no  streets,  as  there 
were  no  horses.  Their  means  of  conveyance  was 
by  canoe. 

The  inhabitants  were  few,  and  mostly  itiner- 
ant, not  intending  to  settle  on  the  land,  or  remain 
long.  They  were  either  soldiers,  traders  or 
helpers.  They  passed  their  time  in  gossip  and 
drinking  wine.  Their  music  was  the  fiddle.  It 


22  CHARLES    DE    LANGLADE 

was  indispensable  to  a  Frenchman.  Mr.  Thwaits 
has  described  the  "Fiddler's  Three"  in  this 
manner: 

"The  fiddler  was  indispensable  on  social  occa- 
sions. No  wilderness  so  far  away  that  the  little 
French  fiddle  had  not  been  there;  the  Indian 
recognized  it  as  a  part  of  the  furniture  of  every 
fur  trader's  camp.  At  night  as  the  wanderers 
lounged  around  the  blazing  heap  of  logs  in  the 
old  fire  place,  the  forest  resounded  with  the 
piercing  strains  of  tortured  catgut,  accompanying 
the  gaily  turbaned  voyageurs,  as  in  metalic  tones 
they  chanted  favorite  melodies  of  the  river,  the 
chase,  love  and  the  wassail."  Every  christening 
and  wedding  had  the  fiddler.  At  their  nightly 
social  gatherings,  the  fiddler  sat  cross  legged  on 
a  plank  table. 

There  were  very  few  French  girls  in  the  new 
colony  and  many  of  the  Coureurs  de  bois,  or  wood 
rangers  and  voyageurs  or  boatmen,  the  trader's 
men,  and  the  traders,  took  wives  among  the 
women  of  the  savage  nations  about  them.  While 
this  was  fortunate  for  their  business  of  dealing 
with  the  Indians  and  for  their  partial  safety  from 
savage  treachery,  it  made  a  new  race  of  men, 
some  good  and  some  bad,  who  have  been  called 
Creoles  and  mixed  bloods.  They  certainly  were 
peculiarly  adapted  to  the  formative  period  in  the 
history  of  the  west,  which  required  the  Indian  to 
be  made  to  see  that  the  country  must  be  given  up 


CHARLESDELANGLADE  23 

to  civilized  pursuits.  The  Creole,  a  natural  result 
of  the  distant  meeting  of  the  races,  has  ever 
acted  an  important  part  in  the  conquering  of  the 
wild. 

Such  was  the  birth  of  the  subject  of  this  sketch, 
Charles  de  Lang-lade,  as  described  above,  the  son 
of  a  French  father,  and  an  Indian  mother. 

As  a  small  boy  on  the  banks  of  the  straits  of 
Mackinac,  in  Old  Mackinaw,  in  the  far  off  out- 
posts of  New  France,  he  was  free  to  roam  the 
woods,  chase  the  butterfly,  and  gather  winter- 
greens  in  the  deep  forest.  He  wore  moccasins, 
leather  breeches  and  shirt.  Hatless,  his  jet  black 
hair  was  caught  upon  the  breeze  from  the  lake, 
while  he  thumbed  his  first  bow,  and  let  fly  his 
first  childhood  arrow,  at  the  small  swallows,  and 
tip  up  snipe  along  the  shore. 


II 


AT  TEN  YEARS  OF  AGE,  HE  GOES  OUT  ON  HIS  FIRST 
WAR-PATH,  AS  A  MASCOT  FOR  THE  OTTAWA 

ONE  morning-,  in  the  spring-  of  1739,  when  the 
little  black  eyed  lad  was  but  ten  years  old, 
the  commandant  of  the  post  at  Old  Mack- 
inaw, then  Sieur  Marchand  de  Lignery,  sent  word 
to  Nissowaquet,  the  Chief  of  the  Ottawa,  to  come 
to  him.  The  King  came  to  the  front  of  the  house 
of  the  Commandant,  where  he  sat  with  his  offi- 
cers in  the  shade,  shook  hands  with  each  one  of 
the  officers,  and  addressing  the  Commandant, 
said:  "Did  the  father  send  for  his  son?"  "Yes, 
brave  Nissowaquet,  I  would  have  you  lead  your 
braves  on  the  war-path." 

"Nissowaquet  is  ready  to  obey  the  command  of 
his  father,  and  my  young  braves  will  paint  their 
faces  and  take  up  their  spears  even  to-day  before 
the  sun  is  high  if  you  wish  it." 

"The  Great  King  (Louis)  has  sent  word  to 
Onontio  (Governor  of  Canada)  that  the  Quiatanon 
(Wea)  are  always  killing  his  children,  and  says 
they  must  be  made  to  keep  quiet,  and  remain  in 
their  village. "  "My  father  knows  that  Nissowa- 
quet has  taken  the  war-path  against  them  at  two 
different  times,  and  has  been  driven  away  by  the 


CHARLES    DE    LANGLADE  25 

Wea  braves,  who  are  like  the  leaves  of  the  trees, 
so  numerous  are  they." 

"Onontio  knows  that,  but  says  you  are  brave, 
and  that  the  next  time  you  go  out  against  them 
they  will  be  dead." 

"It  is  not  possible,  they  are  too  many,  and  call 
the  Miami  to  help  them." 

"Go  and  fast  for  ten  days,  and  you  will  have  a 
dream,  that  will  show  you  the  Wea  are  dead." 
The  old  King  withdrew  and  took  the  trail  back 
home  with  a  bottle  of  firewater,  which  the  Com- 
mandant had  given  him. 

The  tribes  of  Quiatanon  or  Wea,  were  of  the 
Illinois  nation,  and  brothers  of  the  Miami.  Their 
villages  were  on  the  south  side  of  the  Wabash,  at 
a  place  four  miles  below  the  present  city  of 
LaFayette  in  Indiana,  near  the  mouth  of  the  Wea 
River. 

They  were  a  very  war-like  and  brave  tribe  of 
savages.  The  English  of  the  Hudson  River  had 
sent  the  collars  and  peace  pipes  among  them  a 
dozen  years  before,  and  had  taken  a  number  of 
them  as  well  as  Miamis  to  Orange,  as  Albany  was 
then  called,  to  trade;  and  the  French  had  used 
every  means  to  engage  these  Illinois  tribes  again 
to  their  friendship,  as  these  hostile  tribes  of  the 
prairie  interrupted  communication  with  their 
posts  on  the  Mississippi  River;  or  more  correctly 
speaking  their  department  of  Louisiana,  which 
they  reached  by  portage  between  the  headwaters 


26  CHARLES    DE    LANGLADE 

of  the  St.  Joseph  River  and  the  Kankakee  River, 
thence  down  the  Illinois  River;  or  via  the  Pox  and 
Wisconsin  Rivers.  The  hostile  Fox  River  Indians 
including  the  Winnebago,  Sac,  Fox,  Mascoutins, 
Kickapoos  and  Miami  formed  with  the  Wea  a 
hostile  barrier  across  their  way  from  all  direc- 
tions, and  they  were  given  presents  or  attacked, 
as  occasion  demanded,  to  regain  their  trade  or 
open  the  way.  It  was  for  many  years  a  bloody 
path.  At  this  time  the  Wea  Village  was  located 
on  a  prairie,  protected  by  a  small  stockade.  It 
was  under  the  rule  of  the  Queen  of  the  Wea,  who 
had  twice  defeated  the  savage  Ottawa.  In  about 
ten  days  King  Nissowaquet  came  to  the  gate  of 
the  stockade  and  the  guard  admitted  him  to  see 
Sieur  de  Lignery.  The  chief  told  the  command- 
ant that  he  had  fasted  ten  days  and  then  had  a 
dream;  that  his  nephew  Charles  de  Langlade  was 
protected  by  some  powerful  Manitou,  and  that  if 
he  would  go  with  his  braves  on  the  war-path  the 
Wea  would  be  killed.  The  officer  was  well  ac- 
quainted with  this  superstition  which  had  such  a 
powerful  effect  over  the  spirits  of  the  braves,  and 
said  he  would  see  if  he  could  obtain  Sieur  de 
Langlade's  consent  for  the  boy  to  go. 

When  the  officer  saw  the  trader  about  the  boy 
going  on  the  war-path,  he  laughed  and  supposed 
the  boy  was  consorting  some  scheme  to  get  away 
with  the  war  party.  He  informed  the  officer  that 
the  boy  was  a  mere  lad  and  could  not  possibly 


CHARLESDELANGLADE  27 

lend  any  assistance  to  the  old  and  experienced 
warriors.  But  the  officer  earnestly  insisted,  and 
the  father  consented  to  think  it  over.  Sieur  de 
Langlade  saw  young1  Charles  about  it,  and  his  son 
assured  him  that  it  was  no  plan  of  his,  nor  did  he 
know  anything  of  it;  but  if  his  father  would 
consent,  he  would  be  very  glad  to  go. 

Sieur  de  Langlade  then  informed  him  he  could 
go;  but  advised  him  that  "he  must  never  let  him 
hear  of  his  showing  any  marks  of  cowardice." 

Young  Charles  was  delighted  at  the  prospect  of 
going  to  war,  and  of  having  a  chance  to  distin- 
guish himself.  He  must  have  been  a  born  war- 
rior, as  he  spent  nearly  all  his  life  as  a  soldier, 
and  having  fought  ninety-nine  battles,  wished 
when  he  lay  on  his  death-bed,  that  he  could  fight 
one  more  before  his  death  to  make  it  an  even 
hundred. 

King  Nissowaquet  then  hung  up  the  war  kettle, 
in  which  was  boiled  a  dog,  to  inspire  all  his 
young  men  with  bravery;  and  the  warriors  of  the 
tribe  after  the  feast,  were  told  in  an  eloquent 
speech  by  Nissowaquet  of  his  dream;  and  that 
their  father  the  commandant  had  obtained  the 
consent  of  Sieur  de  Langlade,  for  the  young 
Manitou  boy,  as  they  now  called  Charles,  to  go 
with  them  on  the  war-path  against  the  Wea,  and 
the  heavens  now  favoring  them,  they  must  sure- 
ly defeat  their  enemy  and  bring  home  many 
scalps. 


28  CHARLES    DE    LANGLADE 

His  braves  gave  great  shouts  of  joy  and  rushed 
about  making  ready.  They  painted  their  faces 
and  bodies,  stripped  off  all  their  clothing,  except 
a  small  leathern  shirt,  and  breach  clout,  shar- 
pened their  spears,  and  took  their  war  bows,  and 
flint  pointed  arrows,  and  filed  away  toward  the 
south.  The  trail  led  through  towering  pine  for- 
ests, and  birch  and  maple  openings.  The  country 
was  green  in  its  fresh  spring  covering,  the  sweet 
scented  trailing  arbutus  and  winter  green  berries 
covered  the  ground,  while  other  woods  were 
white  and  pink  with  the  early  May  wild  flowers 
of  this  delightful  country. 

The  savages  walked  very  far,  and  much  too 
fast  for  Charles  and  the  other  little  Indian  boys, 
who  were  taken  with  them  for  company,  so  some 
of  the  big  warriors  would  often  take  them  upon 
their  shoulders.  Charles  enjoyed  the  journey, 
and  had  a  delightful  time.  To  him  it  was  great 
fun,  going  on  the  war-path.  After  a  hurried 
journey  of  about  ten  days  without  meeting  any 
enemy,  they  came  to  the  vicinity  of  the  Wea  fort, 
commanded  by  the  Indian  Queen.  Some  scouts, 
sent  ahead,  reported  that  the  enemy  did  not  know 
of  their  approach;  so  they  proceeded  slowly  until 
night,  then  rested  until  after  midnight,  when  they 
all  arose  and  stealthily  surrounded  the  stockade. 
Not  supposing  an  enemy  was  near,  the  gate 
had  been  left  unguarded.  Charles  and  his  In- 
dian companions,  were  given  a  place  of  safety  on 


CHARLESDELANGLADE  29 

either  side  of  the  village,  and  told  at  the  proper 
time  to  blow  on  some  reeds,  which  had  been  pro- 
vided. The  Ottawa  war  whoop  was  given,  and 
in  rushed  the  braves,  yelling  like  fiends,  and  fire- 
ing  the  thatched  tepees  of  the  village.  The 
Weas  rushed  out  of  their  wigwams  in  all  direc- 
tions. They  fought  desperately.  Their  great 
numbers,  with  their  women  and  children  all  de- 
fending themselves,  might  have  won  the  battle, 
even  with  the  advantage  of  surprise  on  the  side 
of  the  Ottawa;  but  just  as  the  fight  was  raging 
and  the  defenders  were  holding  the  Ottawa  in 
partial  check,  the  reeds  were  sounded  on  either 
side  of  the  village,  making  various  noises  as  if 
there  were  a  large  number  yet  concealed.  This 
dismayed  the  defenders  and  they  made  a  precipi- 
tate retreat,  rushing  from  the  enclosure  down  the 
river  bank.  The  Ottawa  pursuing  only  a  short 
distance.  The  victory  was  complete.  All  the 
Ottawa  had  taken  scalps  and  they  carried  Charles 
de  Langlade  home  on  their  shoulders.  Suppos- 
ing their  victory  was  given  to  them  by  the  spirits 
of  the  air,  because  they  had  the  Manitou  boy 
with  them,  forever  after  this  he  had  great  influ- 
ence over  them  and  led  them  in  many  famous  bat- 
tles in  the  history  of  America. 

There  is  some  historical  obscurity  as  to  the 
details  of  the  occurrences,  just  related,  but  it  is 
believed  the  details  as  stated  are  quite  within 
the  facts. 


Ill 


SIEUR  AUGUSTIN  DE  LANGLADE  MOVES  WITH 
CHARLES  TO  LA  BAYE,  THE  SITE  OF  THE  FUTURE 
GREEN  BAY,  AND  BECOMES  THE  FIRST  SETTLER 
AND  FATHER  OF  THE  FUTURE  WISCONSIN 

THE  young  Creole  Charles  de  Langlade,  had 
few  white  companions  in  his  far  off  frontier 
home  in  Old  Mackinaw,  but  as  singular  as  it 
may  seem,  he  did  acquire  the  rudiments  of  an 
education.  All  about  him  spoke  the  French  lan- 
guage. The  officers  at  the  post  with  whom  he 
was  a  favorite,  spoke  elegant  and  cultivated 
French.  This  naturally  had  its  influence  on  his 
own  speech.  We  suppose  his  father,  being  a  man 
of  business  and  affairs,  took  pride  in  teaching  his 
son  the  common  branches,  including  writing  in 
French.  He  also  learned  the  Ottawa  tongue  from 
his  mother  and  Indian  companions,  also  the 
Chippewa  language,  which  was  a  court  language 
among  the  Northwest  tribes,  and  if  once  under- 
stood would  enable  him  to  talk  with  most  of  the 
other  Algonkin  tribes.  Even  the  Winnebago 
could  understand  it,  although  their  language  was 
Siouan. 

At  the  Old  Mackinaw  Village,  the  Jesuit  fathers 
who  were  successors  to  Allouez  and  Marquette, 
who  had  this  mission  when  it  was  located  at  St. 


CHARLESDELANGLADE  31 

Ignace  on  the  opposite  shore  of  the  strait,  was 
Father  du  Jannay,  also  Father  le  Franc,  and  Fa- 
ther C.  G.  Coquar.  Doubtless  one  or  all  of  these 
good  fathers  had  the  education  of  Charles  in  their 
keeping-,  as  well  as  his  soul,  at  least  until  he  was 
confirmed  at  thirteen.  All  these  French  missions 
and  people  were  Catholics,  and  the  Priests  in 
charge  were  Jesuits  who,  all  accounts  seem  to 
show,  were  highly  educated  men.  As  in  after 
years  Charles  had  little  leisure  for  study,  and 
as  we  know  he  was  well  educated  for  one  always 
on  the  frontier,  we  have  no  doubt  he  was  given  a 
very  careful  training  by  the  Jesuit  Fathers. 

One  summer  day  when  Charles  was  fifteen  years 
of  age,  his  father  packed  all  his  stock  in  trade, 
Indian  goods,  household  furniture,  such  as  ket- 
tles, cranes  and  a  few  pieces  of  clothing,  together 
with  their  guns,  powder  and  ball,  into  several 
canoes,  and  embarking  with  his  family,  bade 
adieu  to  Old  Mackinaw.  Their  Chippewa  and 
Ottawa  peddlers  pushed  the  birch  bark  canoes 
over  to  the  rugged  forest  shaded  northern  shore 
of  the  strait  of  Mackinac,  then  around  the  wind 
swept  northern  end  of  Lake  Michigan,  into  beau- 
tiful Green  Bay;  and  around  the  western  shore  of 
the  Bay  to  its  southern  head.  Here  they  wound 
about  some  reed  covered  sand  Islands,  through  a 
winding  channel  into  the  mouth  of  the  Fox  River; 
and  paddling  along  its  crystal  bosom  for  about 
two  miles,  landed  on  its  grassy  eastern  banks. 


32  CHARLES    DELANGLADE 

They  disembarked  their  entire  possessions  and 
carried  them  up  to  the  higher  ground  several  rods 
from  the  shore  where  they  covered  them  with 
tarpaulins.  Here  they  prepared  their  first  meal. 
The  whole  party  so  far  as  we  can  gather  now, 
consisted  of  the  Sieur  de  Langlade,  a  Canadian, 
born  at  Three  Rivers;  his  wife,  the  sister  of  the 
Chippewa  Chief;  his  son  Charles;  M.  Souligny, 
who  was  husband  to  Agatha,  a  half  blood  daugh- 
ter of  Mrs.  Langlade  by  her  first  husband.  Either 
then  or  soon  after,  they  were  joined  by  Mons 
Carron,  a  French  trader,  who  had  lived  many 
years  among  these  western  lakes  and  rivers,  en- 
gaged in  trading  beads  for  pelts.  Doubtless  they 
had  slaves  and  laborers  with  them,  as  well  as 
Indians.  They  immediately  commenced  to  cut 
down  the  forest  trees,  to  clear  a  place  for  their 
houses,  and  build  the  logs  into  their  homes  and 
trading  post.  Thus  was  commenced  in  this  hum- 
ble manner,  far  away  from  civilization  and  among 
many  tribes  of  savages,  the  first  permanent  set- 
tlement of  the  future  Wisconsin  and  nourishing 
City  of  Green  Bay. 

There  had  been  a  small  military  post  main- 
tained prior  to  1721  at  La  Baye,  which  has  become 
known  as  the  Old  French  Fort.  It  stood  on  the 
same  site  as  all  the  subsequent  palisade  forts 
which  have  succeeded  it,  and  near  the  site  of  the 
present  Northwestern  Railway  depot,  on  the  west 
side  of  the  river.  This  cantonment  was  burned 


CHARLES    DELANGLADE  33 

by  the  French  army  in  1728.  It  was  not  restored 
again  until  the  French  and  Indian  war  about  1754. 

The  Langlade's  were  well  calculated  by  their 
relationship  with  the  Indians,  to  protect  them- 
selves. They  had  settled  at  La  Baye  because  of 
the  superior  opportunity  to  obtain  skins  from  the 
numerous  tribes  of  Wisconsin,  where  the  game  was 
more  numerous  than  at  Old  Mackinaw.  Besides 
the  country  was  healthy  and  beautiful,  and  the 
Fox  River  was  the  main  highway  to  the  west. 

Wisconsin  was  alive  with  wild  game.  The 
ducks  and  geese  are  said  often  to  obscure  the  sun, 
they  were  so  numerous.  The  bear,  dear  and  wolf 
were  everywhere.  As  many  as  five  hundred  buf- 
falo were  reported  in  one  herd.  The  beaver  and 
otter,  among  the  choicest  furs,  were  found  in  the 
streams,  by  the  thousands.  Prairie  chickens  and 
pigeons  were  so  numerous,  they  were  killed  with 
clubs.  The  rivers  swarmed  with  pickerel,  bass, 
pike,  sturgeon,  muscallonge,  catfish,  perch  and 
trout.  These  and  succeeding  settlers  made  their 
homes  in  a  row  along  the  river  front;  and  culti- 
vated the  land  in  long,  narrow  strips,  running 
back  from  the  river,  and  used  their  canoes  to 
visit  each  other,  as  their  only  other  highway  was 
a  narrow  trail  through  the  forest.  Beaver  skins 
was  the  money  of  the  west,  as  it  was  its  chief 
article  of  commerce. 

When  the  Langlades  settled  in  their  new  home 
there  is  some  evidence  that  the  Sac  Indians  had 


34  CHARLES    DE    LANGLADE 

a  village  north  of  their  cabins,  farther  toward  the 
mouth  of  the  river  where  it  had  been  located  since 
prior  to  1721.  The  Winnebago  had  their  village 
on  Doty  Island,  about  thirty-five  miles  up  the  Pox 
River  at  the  present  site  of  Menasha.  The  Menom- 
onee  had  their  village  on  the  Menomonee  river  at 
the  present  site  of  Marinettee,  about  sixty  miles 
north  on  the  Bay  shore.  The  Fox  Indians  had 
moved  over  on  to  the  Wisconsin  and  Mississippi 
rivers,  as  we  suppose,  though  the  traditions  which 
are  related  hereafter,  show  they  might  still  be  at 
their  old  home  on  the  west  bank  of  Little  Butte 
des  Morts  Lake  opposite  the  present  City  of 
Menasha. 

The  new  comers  were  very  well  received  by 
their  savage  neighbors,  both  because  they  could 
readily  converse  with  them  and  their  trade  was 
brought  much  nearer  to  their  village.  Some  of 
them  tried  their  customary  schemes  to  obtain 
goods  with  a  promise  of  pay  for  them  in  the  future 
when  they  had  pelts  to  trade;  but  the  trader  had 
learned  never  to  trust  an  Indian.  Members  of 
the  Menomonee  band  often  came  down  to  the 
trading  post  and  made  threats,  that  unless  they 
could  have  the  goods  on  trust,  they  would  seize 
them;  but  Charles  de  Langlade  advised  them  not 
to  attempt  that  with  him.  One  day  their  chief 
Tepakenenee,  or  the  "Night  man,"  who  lived 
two  miles  up  the  Menomonee  river  at  their  village, 
named  Minnekaunee  or  Pleasant  town,  on  the 


CHARLES    DELANGLADE  35 

present  site  of  Marinette  City,  came  into  the  store 
and  asked  for  goods  to  be  paid  at  some  future 
date  when  he  obtained  some  skins.  Langlade 
refused  him  the  goods,  on  such  terms.  At  this 
the  chief  became  ugly  and  threatned  to  take  the 
things  by  force;  but  Charles  told  him:  "Well, 
my  friend,  if  you  have  come  here  to  fight,  we  can 
cross  to  the  prairie  on  the  other  side  of  the  river 
and  have  a  little  fun. "  The  Chief  knew  too  well 
his  reputation  for  bravery  and  skill,  to  accept  the 
invitation.  This  same  Tepakenenee  did  after- 
ward fatally  stab  St.  Germain,  a  trader  located 
at  his  village.  He  was  a  savage  old  brute.  Being 
sick  while  on  a  hunt,  a  Chippewa  medicine  man 
told  him  he  would  not  die  then,  but  having  killed 
a  man  he  would  die  in  the  same  way.  Not  long 
after  this  he  had  a  brawl  with  an  Indian,  whom 
he  thrashed.  This  so  provoked  his  antagonist, 
that  he  shot  the  old  chief  Tepakenenee  dead. 
The  frontier  settler  is  more  dependent  on  a  black- 
smith than  most  anyone  else,  because  he  could 
repair  his  guns,  the  most  useful  tool  of  the  woods- 
man, and  the  old  flint  lock,  or  flash  in  the  pan 
guns  were  frequently  out  of  order.  A  blacksmith 
named  Lammiot  came  from  France  and  opened  his 
shop  to  ply  his  trade  in  this  little  settlement. 
Ishquaketa,  a  Memomonee  left  an  axe  with  the 
smith  for  repair,  and  when  he  came  after  it  he 
threw  down  a  skin  as  the  price  of  the  work  and 
took  the  axe.  Lammiot,  to  whom  perhaps  all 


36  CHARLES    DE    LANGLADE 

Indians  appeared  alike,  did  not  recognize  this  one 
as  the  owner  of  the  axe,  and  told  him  it  was  not 
his  axe  and  to  be  off.  The  Indian  refused  to  give 
up  the  axe,  insisting  it  was  his,  when  the  black- 
smith snatched  the  red  hot  tongs  from  the  forge, 
with  which  he  seized  the  Memomonee  by  the  neck, 
burning  and  choking  him.  Then  the  brave  struck 
Lammiot  a  fearful  blow  on  the  head  with  the  axe, 
and  leaving  him  for  dead,  went  and  told  Charles 
de  Langlade,  "I  have  killed  the  blacksmith." 
"Why?"  "See  how  he  choked  and  burned  me.  I 
had  to  do  it  to  save  my  life."  Charles  ran  over 
to  the  spot  and  found  the  smith  badly  wounded. 
He  carried  him  to  a  bed,  and  found  a  skilled  In- 
dian nurse  for  him.  When  nearly  well,  a  brother 
of  the  chief,  Tepakenenee  called  and  asked  to 
see  him.  On  entering  the  room  he  walked  up  to 
the  blacksmith  and  stabbed  him,  killing  him  in- 
stantly. When  asked  why  he  did  this  he  replied, 
he  wished  to  end  his  suffering.  He  fled,  but  was 
soon  after  killed  in  a  drunken  brawl. 


IV 


AT  THE  BATTLES  OF  BUTTE  DES  MORTS.     THE  TRA- 
DITION OF  MARIN'S  VENGEANCE.     BLACK  BIRD, 

A  SAC  BOY,  SHOOTS  THE  COMMANDANT  OF  LA 
BAYE.  DE  LANGLADE  WAS  IN  THE  BATTLE  WHICH 
DROVE  THE  SACS  TO  THE  WISCONSIN  RIVER. 

THIS  tradition  has  been  long1  and  persistently 
related,  as  part  of  the  history  of  the  toma- 
hawk trail  and  told    in  history,  song   and 
story,  and  related  by  the  grandfathers  to  their 
children  for  the  last  century  and  a  half. 

The  Outagamie,  called  by  the  French,  Les  Ren- 
nard,  translated  into  English,  Foxes,  because  of 
their  nature  and  untamable  independence,  settled 
as  early  as  1683  on  the  west  bank  of  Little  Butte 
des  Morts  about  three  quarters  of  a  mile  from  the 
shore.  Here  they  had  a  large  fort  and  many 
cabins,  and  a  populous  town  of  about  4,000  men, 
women  and  children.  Bancroft  says  of  them: 
"The  Foxes  were  a  nation,  passionate  and  un- 
tamable, springing  into  new  life  from  every  de- 
feat and  though  reduced  in  the  number  of  their 
warriors,  yet  present  everywhere  by  their  fero- 
cious enterprise  and  savage  daring. "  They  made 
it  a  practice  to  demand  of  all  people  passing  up 
or  down  the  Fox  River,  toll  for  the  privilege  of 
going  freely.  This  was  called  by  them,  diplo- 


449605 


38  CHARLES    DE    LANGLADE 

matically,  receiving  friendly  presents  as  if  for 
their  protection.  Whenever  they  discovered  a 
boat  approaching-  they  put  a  torch  on  the  bank 
as  a  signal  for  the  boat  to  come  ashore  and  pay 
the  customary  tribute.  Or  they  might  fire  a  shot 
over  the  bow  of  the  boat  as  a  warning  to  stop  and 
be  pillaged  after  the  manner  of  pirates. 

When  it  was  a  trader  boat  that  was  passing, 
their  exactions  were  excessive,  and  all  kinds  of 
ruses  were  adopted  to  put  them  off  with  as  little 
as  possible.  Of  course  this  unfriendly  practice 
resu]ted  in  each  succeeding  boat  being  more  and 
more  plundered,  until  the  exactions  became 
ruinous  to  the  trader  and  disastrous  to  the  west- 
ern enterprise.  If  tribute  was  refused,  it  incurred 
the  displeasure  of  the  Foxes,  who  were  strong 
enough,  and  robbery  and  often  murder  resulted. 

Continual  complaints  were  made  to  the  com- 
mandants of  western  posts  and  to  the  authorities 
at  Quebec  and  Paris.  The  archives  of  the  French 
exhibit  an  immense  amount  of  annoyance  occa- 
sioned by  the  temerity  of  the  Foxes.  Besides  the 
extortionate  tribute  demanded,  the  Foxes  were 
firebrands  over  the  whole  west  as  exciting  war 
between  different  tribes  and  alternately  uniting 
themselves  to  the  Sioux,  then  the  English,  the 
Illinois,  and  keeping  the  missionary  and  trader 
in  constant  danger  from  new  enemies. 

One  Sieur  la  Perriere  Marin  was  in  command 
of  the  post  among  the  Menomonee  Indians  about 


CHARLESDELANGLADE  39 

1730.  He  also  had  a  trading  post  and  supply 
depot  at  Mackinaw  on  the  shore  at  St.  Ignace, 
and  one  at  the  other  end  of  the  Fox  River  route, 
eight  miles  below  the  mouth  of  the  Wisconsin 
River  on  the  east  bank  of  the  Mississippi.  His 
boats  were  constantly  employed  in  taking  over 
trading  supplies  of  bright  cloth,  beads,  axes,  ket- 
tles and  war  paint,  and  returning  laden  with  furs 
of  beaver,  buffalo  and  otter. 

This  Captain  Marin  was  an  old  campaigner  of 
a  decided  and  energetic  character,  and  knew  how 
to  meet  the  cunning  of  the  Indians.  At  last  a 
Canadian  trader  refused  to  pay  tribute  and 
severely  wounded  an  Indian  who  proposed  to 
take  it  forcibly.  He  was  instantly  shot  dead  and 
scalped,  while  his  cargo  was  pillaged.  Some 
accounts  say  his  men  were  also  killed.  No  notice 
was  taken  of  this  by  the  authorities,  which  in- 
creased the  insolence  of  the  Indians.  This  out- 
rage coming  to  the  notice  of  Captain  Marin,  he 
determined  it  was  time  to  act,  and  at  once.  Rais- 
ing a  small  volunteer  force  at  Mackinaw,  which 
was  increased  at  La  Baye  and  doubtless  included 
some  Menomonee  Indians,  he  pushed  rapidly  up 
the  treacherous  rapids  of  the  Fox  River.  It  was 
customary  for  traders  to  cover  their  canoe  loads 
of  goods  with  a  canvas  to  protect  them  from  the 
weather.  He  adopted  this  plan  of  covering  his 
armed  men  and  soldiers  as  if  they  were  goods. 
Each  canoe  had  a  full  complement  of  men,  well 


40  CHARLES    DE    LANGLADE 

armed,  covered  with  the  oil  cloth.  Soon  as  they 
arrived  at  the  natural  waterfall  at  Grand  Chute, 
which  was  about  three  miles  below  the  Fox  vil- 
lage, half  of  the  canoes  were  beached  and  a  party 
led  by  Captain  Charles  de  Langlade,  made  off  in 
a  circuitous  direction  by  land,  through  the  woods 
to  reach  the  rear  of  the  village,  which  stood  about 
three  quarters  of  a  mile  from  the  lake  shore.  The 
remainder  of  the  party  after  surmounting  the 
falls,  kept  up  the  river  past  Stroby  Island,  and 
into  the  lake.  Very  soon  the  Foxes  discovered 
the  fleet. 

Only  two  men  were  in  view  in  each  canoe  to 
paddle  it  ahead,  which  easily  deceived  the  sav- 
ages, who  instantly  set  their  torch  on  the  shore 
as  a  warning  to  come  in  and  pay  tribute.  The 
whole  village  came  running  to  the  shore,  expect- 
ing from  such  a  large  fleet,  a  rich  tribute.  When 
the  boats  came  near,  the  natives  rushed  into  the 
waters  to  haul  them  through  the  shoal  water 
further  on  shore. 

Captain  Marin  then  rose  up  and  gave  the  order 
in  French:  "Kill,  burn,  and  destroy."  On  the 
instant  the  tarpaulin  was  thrown  off,  the  armed 
men  rose  up,  and  a  long  line  of  arquebuses  were 
fired  into  the  dusky  throng  of  savages.  A  deadly 
fire  from  a  swivel  gun  loaded  with  grape  and 
cannister,  added  to  the  massacre.  This  was  the 
signal  for  the  onslaught  of  the  land  party  on  to 
the  thatched  cabins  of  the  village.  The  surviv- 


Sy 

K 

«-t   ~ 

S'S 

*  c 

^5 


CHARLES    DELANGLADE  41 

ing  savages  at  the  lake  gave  a  heart  rending 
scream  of  despair,  as  they  saw  their  relatives 
and  friends  fall  dead  in  piles  about  them,  and 
those  still  alive,  rushed  to  the  protection  of  their 
fort,  but  very  soon  saw  the  dense  smoke  rolling 
high  above  their  village.  Then  they  realized 
their  total  destruction  was  intended,  and  com- 
menced .to  gather  their  warriors  into  a  devoted 
band.  The  armed  men  of  the  boats  quickly  reloa- 
ded, and  jumping  ashore,  gave  chase  after  the  rem- 
nant of  the  survivors,  and  the  sacking  party  from 
the  village  came  against  the  rear  of  the  savages. 
A  running  fight  was  kept  up  for  many  miles. 
The  Foxes  took  off  down  the  trail  past  Little 
Butte  des  Morts.  Then  along  the  wooded  ridge 
to  the  head  of  Big  Butte  des  Morts  Lake,  thirteen 
miles  away.  Here  they  waded  the  Fox  River  to 
the  point  on  the  opposite  or  east  bank,  where 
they  made  a  stand,  and  the  French  met  them 
again  in  open  battle,  and  slew  vast  numbers  of 
them.  The  savages  broke  and  ran  again.  They 
continued  their  march  on  to  the  Wisconsin  and 
located  on  the  west  side  of  the  river,  twenty-one 
miles  above  the  mouth,  below  the  Kickapoo  River. 
When  Marin  heard  of  this  new  settlement,  he 
went  in  dead  of  winter  on  snow  shoes  to  attack 
it-  The  Foxes  were  taken  completely  by  surprise, 
being  engaged  in  a  game  of  "draw  straw." 
Marin  surrounded  the  place,  fell  suddenly  on  them, 
killing  some  and  capturing  the  remainder.  Not 


42  CHARLES    DELANGLADE 

one  of  the  Foxes  escaped.  There  were  only 
twenty  Fox  warriors  in  this  village  which  was 
evidence  of  the  terrible  destruction  of  the  mas- 
sacre at  Little  Buttes  des  Mortes.  There  was 
a  great  prehistoric  mound  on  the  bank  of  the 
Little  Lake  Butte  des  Morts,  which  for  one  and 
a  half  centuries,  has  been  pointed  out  as  the 
burial  mound  of  the  massacred  tribe.  This  was 
named  "Hill  of  the  Dead, "  and  thus  gave  its  name 
to  the  lake  and  the  larger  lake  above  Oshkosh, 
was  given  its  name  for  the  same  reason,  though 
there  was  no  hill  there. 

If  the  tribe  was  wiped  out  as  the  tradition 
would  persistently  have  us  believe,  upwards  of 
thirty-five  hundred  men,  women  and  children, 
fell  victims  to  Marin's  vengeance. 

The  historical  evidence  of  this  slaughter  of  the 
Fox  Indians  is  quite  obscured.  It  is  certain  that 
Marin  did  go  out  against  them,  but  the  date  and 
extent  of  damage  done  to  them  is  mostly  found 
in  tradition.  That  the  Fox  tribe  was  not  exter- 
minated is  certain.  It  is  also  certain  that  if  the 
date  was  1730,  that  Charles  de  Langlade  was  but 
one  year  of  age.  Other  dates  given  are  1746  and 
1756,  which  would  make  it  possible  for  Langlade 
to  have  been  in  the  battle  as  Augustin  Grignon 
asserts  he  was,  upon  the  authority  of  Charles 
himself. 

The  following  account  of  the  shooting  of  De 
Velie,  commandant  of  the  old  French  fort  at  La 


CHARLES DELANGLADE  43 

Baye,  is  also  given  from  the  recollection  of 
Augustin  Grignon  as  related  to  him  by  his  grand- 
father, Charles  de  Langlade. 

It  has  been  supposed  that  after  the  "kill,  burn 
and  destroy"  expedition  of  the  French  army,  the 
Sacs  located  at  the  site  of  Sauk  Prairie  on  the 
Wisconsin  River,  and  remained  there  for  many 
years,  but  Augustin  Grignon  relates  a  tradition 
in  which  there  is  evidence  of  historical  fact,  but 
no  documentary  proof  has  come  to  light. 

This  tradition  is  that  Captain  De  Velie,  who  was 
commandant  of  the  old  French  fort  at  Green  Bay 
over  its  small  garrison,  had  just  been  relieved  by 
a  new  commandant,  who  brought  with  him  orders 
that  all  Foxes  living  with  the  Sacs  in  the  village 
across  the  river  be  given  up  at  once.  All  were 
willingly  given  up  except  a  Fox  boy,  who  had 
been  adopted  by  an  old  Sac  squaw,  who  stead- 
ily refused  to  give  him  up.  Both  commandants 
were  drinking  together  when  the  frontier 
whiskey  caused  hot  words  about  the  little 
Fox  boy,  not  being  delivered.  De  Velie  took 
down  his  gun,  crossed  the  river  alone  with  his 
negro  servant  to  the  palisade  of  the  Sac  village. 
The  Sacs  were  then  in  council,  and  he  was  met 
by  the  Sac  chief,  of  whom  he  demanded  the  im- 
mediate surrender  of  the  [little  Fox  boy.  The 
chief  replied  his  tribe  were  then  in  council  about 
the  boy,  and  though  the  old  woman  objected, 
they  thought  she  would  yield  and  would  go  at 
once  to  see  her  about  the  Fox  boy. 


44  CHARLES    DE   LANGLADE 

He  returned  and  reported  she  was  still  obstin- 
ate, but  thought  she  "would  look  at  it  all  right 
pretty  soon;"  but  De  Velie  vehemently  renewed 
his  demands.  So  the  chief  went  off  to  talk  with 
the  loyal  old  woman  again,  but  was  obliged  to 
return  without  success.  The  old  soldier  was 
more  insistent  than  ever  and  swore  some  French. 
The  good  chief  went  back  to  have  a  talk  with 
the  old  woman.  But  she  was  loyal  to  her  little 
Fox  boy  and  the  chief  was  obliged  to  return  and 
report  that  she  was  still  determined  to  keep  her 
adopted  boy,  though  he  thought  she  was  coming 
to  the  point  of  giving  him  up. 

The  crusty  old  French  soldier  was  beside  him- 
self with  whisky  and  rage,  and  raising  his  gun, 
shot  the  chief  dead.  The  young  bucks  jumped 
up  and  rushing  out  were  with  difficulty  kept  from 
wreaking  vengeance  on  the  officer  by  the  coolness 
of  older  men.  De  Velie  had  his  gun  reloaded  by 
his  servant,  and  his  anger  increasing,  wantonly 
shot  down  another  chief. 

The  old  warriors  still  counseled  the  young  bucks 
to  keep  cool,  but  the  officer  treacherously  shot 
down  a  third  chief,  which  caused  such  a  rout  of 
excitement  that  a  youth  only  twelve  years  of  age, 
named  Black  Bird,  shot  the  enraged  Frenchman 
dead.  This  Black  Bird  became  a  great  chief, 
and  was  with  his  tribe  at  Rock  Island  early  in 
the  nineteenth  century,  where  he  often  boasted 
that  he  had  killed  the  officer. 


CHARLES    DELANGLADE  45 

The  French  garrison  was  too  small,  to  revenge 
the  death  of  the  officer,  but  upon  the  arrival  of 
Charles  de  Langlade,  with  a  number  of  settlers, 
they  attacked  the  Sacs  and  drove  them  away. 
The  battle  was  very  hotly  contested,  and  a  num- 
ber killed  on  both  sides.  Two  of  Augustin  Grig- 
non's  relatives  were  killed  in  the  battle,  but  its 
date  is  unknown. 


DE  LANGLADE  LEADS  THE  OTTAWA  TO  SACK  OF 
PICKAWILLANY,  THE  VILLAGE  OF  LA  DEMOI- 
SELLE, THE  FIRST  BATTLE  OF  THE  GREAT 
FRENCH  AND  INDIAN  WAR 

FRANCIS  Parkman,  the  graphic  historian  of 
New  France  has  eloquently  described  it  in 
these  words:  "Canada  lay  ensconced  behind 
rocks  and  forests.  All  along  her  southern  bound- 
ary, between  her  and  her  English  foes,  lay  a  broad 
tract  of  wilderness,  shaggy  with  primeval  woods." 
Galisonniere,  the  humpback  Governor  of  Can- 
ada, had  advised  France  to  settle  ten  thousand 
peasants  in  the  valley  of  the  Ohio  to  hold  it. 
The  English  Indian  trader  was  crossing  the  mount- 
ains from  Pennsylvania  and  Virginia,  injuring  the 
French  fur  trade,  and  seducing  the  French  Ind- 
ian allies  of  that  region,  stirring  them  up  against 
Canada.  He  saw  with  a  prophetic  vision  that 
some  effort  must  be  made  at  once  to  establish 
French  dominion  in  the  valley.  For  this  purpose 
be  sent  Captain  Bienville  thither,  in  the  summer 
of  1749,  accompanied  by  fourteen  officers,  twenty 
soldiers,  one  hundred  and  eighty  Canadians,  a 
priest,  a  notary  and  a  band  of  Indians  all  in 
twenty  three  bark  canoes.  They  voyaged  up  the 
St.  Lawrence  to  Fort  Frontenac  (now  Kingston), 
then  over  Lake  Ontario  to  Fort  Niagara,  carried 


CHARLESDELANGLADE  47 

their  canoes  around  the  falls  of  Niagara  and  en- 
tered Lake  Erie,  landing  on  its  southern  shore 
at  the  point  where  stands  Portland,  New  York. 
From  here  they  carried  their  canoes  over  the 
country  through  dense  forest  of  beach,  oak,  ash 
and  elm  to  the  Chatauqua  Lakes,  on  whose  bosom 
they  embarked;  then  through  its  outlet  into  the 
Allegheny  River  known  to  them  as  "La  Belle 
Riviere"  or  "Ohio."  "The  great  west  lay  out- 
spread before  them,  a  realm  of  wild  and  waste 
fertility,"  says  Parkham.  Captain  Bienville 
now  made  the  proclamation  for  which  he  came. 
The  men  were  drawn  up  in  order.  Louis  XV  was 
proclaimed  Lord  of  all  this  region,  the  arms  of 
France  stamped  on  a  sheet  of  tin,  was  nailed  to 
a  tree,  a  plate  of  lead  was  buried  at  its  foot,  and 
the  notary  drew  up  a  formal  act  of  the  proceed- 
ing. Four  leagues  below  French  creek  they  bur- 
ied another  lead  plate,  inscribed  with  the  French 
claim  to  dominion,  near  a  rock  incised  with  Ind- 
ian pictographs.  On  their  voyage  they  passed 
a  number  of  Indian  towns,  whose  inhabitants  fled 
on  their  approach,  and  they  warned  away  many 
English  traders  whom  they  met  in  these  towns. 
At  some  of  these  towns  they  were  fired  on.  They 
passed  down  the  Ohio,  meeting  many  powerful 
towns,  all  seemingly  under  the  influence  of  Eng- 
lish traders,  who  were  among  them;  and  he  plant- 
ed several  lead  plates.  At  the  mouth  of  the 
Great  Miami,  they  buried  the  last  inscribed  plate 


48  CHARLES    DE    LANGLADE 

and  voyaged  up  that  river.  They  reached  the 
mouth  of  a  creek,  now  called  Loramie  Creek,  in 
Ohio,  which  was  occupied  by  an  Indian  village 
ruled  by  Chief  La  Demoiselle,  whom  the  English 
called  Old  Britain.  The  English  traders  who 
were  living  there  fled,  leaving  only  two  hired 
men.  Bienville  urged  the  old  chief  to  leave 
there  and  return  to  his  former  village  near  the 
French  fort,  on  the  Maumee  River.  He  promised 
to  do  so  at  another  time.  The  French  tried  to 
induce  him  to  go  then,  but  could  not  prevail;  and 
the  Captain  felt  that  he  had  failed.  He  was  not 
deceived,  for  the  Demoiselle,  who  was  Great 
Chief  of  the  Miamis  Indians  confederacy,  gather- 
ed his  followers  to  this  spot,  so  that  less  than  two 
years  after  this  visit  the  village  population  had 
increased  eight  times.  The  name  of  this  power- 
ful village  was  Pique  town,  or  Pickawillany, 
and  "became  one  of  the  greatest  Indian  towns  in 
the  west,  the  center  of  English  trading  and  in- 
fluence, and  a  capital  object  of  French  jealousy," 
says  Parkman.  It  was  near  present  Piqua,  Ohio. 
Bienville  burned  his  worn  out  canoes  and  travel- 
ed over  land  to  the  French  post  on  the  Maumee, 
where  he  procured  canoes  and  made  his  way  fin- 
ally back  to  Quebec,  having  made  a  journey  of 
nearly  three  thousand  miles,  and  warned  all  the 
inhabitants  of  the  French  claim  to  dominion. 

The  next  year,  1750,  the  Ohio  company  having 
procured  its  grant  of  half  a  million  acres  of  land 


CHARLES DELANGLADE  49 

from  the  King  of  England,  sent  Christopher  Gist, 
over  the  Ohio  Valley,  to  select  the  lands.  He 
was  well  received  among  the  Indian  towns  and 
finally  drew  reins  in  his  wanderings,  in  the 
great  village  of  Pickawillany.  They  crossed  the 
Miami  on  a  raft,  swimming  their  horses,  and  were 
met  at  the  landing  by  a  swarm  of  Miami  warriors, 
who  after  smoking  with  them,  escorted  them  to 
the  neighboring  town,  where  they  met  with  a 
hearty  welcome.  "We  entered  with  English 
colors  before  us  and  were  kindly  received  by 
their  King,  who  invited  us  into  his  own  house, 
and  set  our  colors  upon  the  top  of  it;  then  all  the 
white  traders  who  were  there  came  and  welcomed 
us."  This  King  was  Old  Britian,  or  La  Demoi- 
selle. There  were  great  changes  made  since  Cel- 
oron  Bienville  visited  there  one  and  a  half  years 
before,  and  had  tried  to  induce  La  Demoiselle  to 
move  to  their  French  Port.  It  now  contained 
four  hundred  families,  and  upwards  of  two  thou- 
sand people.  The  English  traders  had  built  for 
themselves  a  picket  fort,  reinforced  with  logs. 
Several  councils  were  held  in  the  log  house, 
where  Croghan,  the  frontier  trader,  who  was 
with  the  English  party,  and  Gist,  both  made 
speeches  to  the  Indians  and  made  them  presents. 
A  treaty  of  peace  was  made  between  the  English 
and  the  Confederate  tribes,  all  with  great  pleas- 
ure and  joy. 


50  CHARLES    DE    LANGLADE 

In  the  midst  of  these  pleasurable  deliberations 
appeared  four  Ottawa  from  between  Lakes  Michi- 
gan and  Huron,  probably  from  Detroit,  who  bore 
a  French  flag  and  gifts  of  brandy  and  tobacco, 
with  a  message  from  the  French  commandant  in- 
viting the  Miamis  to  visit  him  at  Detroit.  The 
great  war  chief  La  Demoiselle  arose,  and  with  "a 
fierce  tone  and  very  war-like  air,"  said  to  the 
envoys:  "Brothers,  the  Ottawas,  we  let  you 
know,  by  these  four  strings  of  wampum,  that  we 
will  not  hear  anything  the  French  say,  nor  do 
anything  they  bid  us.  We  say  to  you  that  we  go 
in  the  road  of  the  English.  And  as  you  threaten 
war  in  the  spring,  we  tell  you  we  are  ready  to  re- 
ceive you.  Tell  that  to  your  fathers,  the  French. " 
The  chiefs  then  took  down  the  French  flag,  which 
the  Ottawa  had  planted  in  the  town,  and  dis- 
missed the  envoys  with  their  message  of  defiance. 
The  home  government  of  France  ordered  the 
Governor  of  Canada  to  drive  the  English  from 
Picawillany,  and  Celoron  de  Bienville,  now  com- 
mandant at  Detroit,  was  ordered  to  proceed 
against  this  place,  but  did  not.  There  was  com- 
plaint from  France,  that  the  orders  were  not  car- 
ried out. 

Raymond,  who  commanded  the  French  post  on 
the  Maumee,  wrote:  "My  people  are  leaving  me 
for  Detroit;  nobody  wants  to  stay  and  have  his 
throat  cut.  All  the  tribes  who  go  to  the  Eng- 
lish at  Pickawillany  come  back  loaded  with 


CHARLES DELANGLADE  51 

gifts.  I  am  too  weak  to  meet  the  danger.  In- 
stead of  twenty  men,  I  need  five  hundred.  If  the 
English  stay  in  this  country,  we  are  lost;  we  must 
attack  and  drive  them  off." 

La  Demoiselle  was  the  moving  spirit  against 
the  French.  His  town  of  Pickawillany  on  the 
Miami  was  the  center  of  the  trouble.  The  Eng- 
lish traders  gathered  there,  sometimes  to  the 
number  of  fifty  or  more.  They  instigated  the 
savages  against  the  French.  The  colonial  minis- 
ter, in  France,  sent  new  orders  to  drive  the  English 
out  of  that  town  and  plunder  them,  which  he 
thought  would  bring  all  troubles  to  an  end. 
The  French  government  of  Canada,  had  charged 
Bienville,  at  Detroit,  to  make  the  attack;  and 
charged  him  with  insubordination,  because  he  had 
not  obeyed  the  command.  Detroit  was  not  strong 
enough  to  carry  it  out;  and  some  militia  was  sent 
to  him;  but  the  Indians  at  the  post  would  not 
assist. 

In  June.  1752,  Charles  de  Langlade  came  down 
the  river  from  La  Baye,  and  leaped  ashore  at  the 
picket  fort  of  old  Detroit.  Following  in  his  train 
of  canoes  were  his  painted  warriors,  ready  for 
any  adventure  under  his  matchless  leadership. 
These  dusky  friends  of  his  were  the  Ottawa  and 
Ojibwa  from  the  vicinity  of  Michillimackinac,  as 
called  and  known  in  those  days,  or  Old  Mackinaw. 

His  flowing  jet  black  hair,  piercing  black  eyes, 
tight-fitting  buckskin  hunting  jacket  and  leggins, 


52  CHARLESDELANGLADE 

exhibited  his  shapely  limbs;  and  as  he  strode 
among1  his  painted  warriors,  there  was  a  confi- 
dence and  spirit,  bred  of  the  woods,  which  would 
be  a  match  in  battle  for  a  host  of  enemies. 

Bienville  now  had  the  captain  and  man  he 
longed  for,  and  could  obey  the  order  of  Versailles. 
Soon  de  Langlade  was  afloat  with  his  men,  all 
armed  with  clubs,  bows  and  flint-pointed  arrows 
or  spears,  while  some  of  them  had  flintlock  guns. 
The  fleet  of  canoes  sped  over  the  glassy  waters  of 
Lake  Erie  on  a  momentous  mission,  to  fight  the 
first  battle  in  that  final  contest,  which  involved 
England  in  the  greatest  war  she  ever  had,  and 
destined  to  lose  to  France  the  vast  continent  of 
nearly  all  North  America.  De  Langlade  was  to 
fight  today  the  first  battle  in  the  horrible  French 
and  Indian  war;  and  the  same  redoubtable  war- 
rior was  destined  a  decade  later  to  surrender  for 
his  country,  the  vast  valley  of  the  Mississippi, 
western  Canada  and  Louisiana,  at  his  birthplace 
of  Old  Mackinaw,  a  territory  which  extended  from 
mountain  to  mountain  and  from  the  Gulf  of  Mexico 
to  the  frozen  regions  of  the  north  pole,  in  which  a 
a  century  and  a  half  later  was  to  be  the  wheat  field 
of  the  world,  the  commercial  center  of  the  earth. 

De  Langlade  led  his  greased  and  feathered 
tribes  in  the  fleet  of  canoes  up  the  Maumee  river 
to  Raymond's  French  Fort,  at  the  portage,  where 
they  beached  their  birch  canoes,  and  took  the 
trail  southerly  through  the  oak  and  maple  woods 


CHARLES    DELANGLADE  53 

to  attack  Demoiselle  at  his  village  of  Pickawill- 
any,  guarded  by  his  English  friends  with  their 
wooden  picket  fort.  They  came  near  the  fort  at 
nine  o'clock  in  the  morning  of  the  twenty-first 
of  June.  We  borrow  Francis  Parkman's  descrip- 
tion of  the  battle. 

"The  frightened  squaws  fled  from  the  cornfields 
into  the  town  where  the  wigwams  of  the  Indians 
clustered  about  the  fortified  warehouse  of  the 
traders.  Of  these  there  were  at  the  time  only 
eight  in  the  place.  Most  of  the  Indians  also  were 
gone  on  their  summer  hunt,  though  Demoiselle 
remained  with  a  band  of  his  tribesmen.  Great 
was  the  screeching  of  war  whoops  and  clatter  of 
guns.  Three  of  the  traders  were  caught  outside 
of  the  fort.  The  remaining  five  closed  the  gate, 
and  stood  on  their  defense.  The  fight  was  soon 
over.  Fourteen  Miamis  were  shot  down.  The 
Demoiselle  among  the  rest.  The  five  white  men 
held  out  until  the  afternoon,  when  three  of  them 
surrendered,  and  two,  Thomas  Burney  and  Andrew 
McBryer,  made  their  escape.  One  of  the  English 
prisoners  being  wounded,  the  victors  stabbed  him 
to  death.  Seventy  years  of  missionaries  had  not 
weaned  them  from  cannibalism,  and  they  boiled 
and  ate  the  Demoiselle." 

The  town  was  sacked  and  burned,  the  fort  de- 
stroyed, the  log  houses  of  the  traders  burned,  but 
not  until  the  Ottawa  had  taken  all  their  goods  of 
knives,  hatchets,  beads,  guns,  powder,  cloth, 


54  CHARLES DELANGLADE 

wines  and  whiskey,  which,  however,  they  were 
not  allowed  to  drink,  as  Langlade  saw  to  it  that 
all  such  fire-water  which  made  the  Indian  mad 
was  turned  on  the  ground.  Thus  he  became  the 
first  effective  temperance  society  in  Ohio. 

The  captured  traders,  plundered  of  everything-, 
were  carried  by  Langlade  to  Quebec,  to  Duquesne, 
who  was  then  Governor,  "who  highly  praised  the 
bold  leader  of  the  enterprise,  and  recommended 
him  to  the  Minister  for  such  reward  as  befitted 
one  of  his  station.  As  he  is  not  in  the  Kings  ser- 
vice, and  has  married  a  squaw,  I  will  ask  for  him 
only  a  pension  of  two  hundred  francs  which  will 
flatter  him  infinitely." 

The  Marquis  Duquesne,  who  had  arrived  only 
that  summer,  was  sprung  from  a  race  of  great 
naval  commanders,  and  was  unacquainted  with 
the  character  of  French  people  who  held  for 
France  her  vast  domains  of  Canada  and  Louis- 
iana. Charles  de  Langlade  was  even  then  in  the 
Marine  service  of  France  and  was  married  to  an 
Indian  woman  according  to  the  Indian  rite,  which 
was  the  custom  of  all  the  frontier  men  in  those 
days.  The  son  born  of  this  union,  was  educated 
in  Montreal,  and  was  afterwards  a  captain  under 
the  English  and  fought  for  them  in  the  Revolu- 
tion and  the  war  of  1812. 


VI 


CHARLES    IS    MARRIED    TO    A    BEAUTIFUL    FRENCH 
DAUGHTER  OF  THE  OLD  MACKINAW  SETTLEMENT 

WHEN  Charles  de  Langlade  was  twenty-five 
he  became  enamored  of  a  beautiful  French 
maiden,  living  at  Mackinaw.     Her  father 
was  a  retired  voyageur.      His  name   was  Rene 
Bourossa,  and  her  name  was  Charlotte  Ambroi- 
sine.     She   was  remarkably  beautiful,  having  a 
slender  figure,  regular  features,  black  hair  and 
eyes,  and  a  rare  moral  character,  which  secured 
general  respect  and  made  her  a  great  favorite. 

They  were  married  in  the  little  log  and  frame 
mission  house  at  Old  Mackinaw,  on  August  12, 
1754.  The  marriage  being  solemnized  by  the  Rev. 
Father  le  Franc,  Jesuit  Missionary,  in  the  pres- 
ence of  fifteen  witnesses  who  signed  the  marriage 
certificate,  and  doubtless  many  others.  Among 
those  present,  was  Captain  Herbin,  commandant 
of  the  post.  Their  honeymoon  was  a  delightful 
canoe  journey,  around  the  northern  end  of  Lake 
Michigan,  whose  wooded  shores  were  richly  tinted 
with  autumn  leaves;  then  past  the  little  islands, 
surrounded  by  water  so  clear,  one  can  see  schools 
of  fish  at  a  hundred  feet  in  depth,  then  down  the 
gorgeous  bay,  where  the  sun  sets  in  Italian  skies, 
to  the  new  home  in  La  Baye,  where  wild  flowers 


56  CHARLES    DELANGLADE 

garland  the  land  all  the  summer,  and  wild  birds 
fill  the  air  with  sweetest  song's. 

Everything  in  this  free  and  easy  life  on  the  far 
frontier  was  enjoyable  to  the  bride  of  the  hand- 
some athlete,  Charles  de  Langlade,  except  the 
savages.  She  never  could  accustom  her  sensitive 
nerves  to  the  presence  of  the  denizens  of  the  for- 
ests. She  had  a  mortal  fear  of  the  Indians, 
though  she  had  lived  all  her  life  among  them. 
Hearing  the  tales  told  of  savage  treachery,  by  all 
incoming  coureurs  de  bois  and  voyageurs  in  the 
fur  trade,  had  instilled  in  her  mind  a  horror  of 
meeting  a  like  death. 

On  one  occasion  some  one  circulated  a  scare 
that  the  hostile  Indians  were  coming,  when  she 
ran  to  the  next  house  and  told  the  alarming  news, 
then  hid  under  a  lumber  pile.  When  she  was 
found  by  her  friends  snugly  stowed  away,  she  was 
nearly  dead  with  fright. 

Their  home  was  next  to  the  store  and  connected 
by  a  doorway.  One  day  a  party  of  Menomonee 
Indians  came  into  the  store  and  all  found  seats 
except  Packkaush,  who,  having  no  seat  stood  up 
against  the  counter  near  the  door.  On  opening 
the  door,  and  seeing  him  standing  there,  she 
thought  he  had  come  to  scalp  her,  and  grabbing  a 
dull  knife,  she  seized  the  Indian  by  the  collar, 
screaming;  "Packkausha,  you  rogue,  you  are  a 
dead  man."  At  the  same  time  she  tried  to  stab 
him,  but  the  dull  knife  could  not  hurt  him.  All 


CHARLESDELANGLADE  57 

the  Indians  roared  with  laughter.  Her  husband 
was  there  and  he  quietly  told  her  to  have  no 
fear,  no  one  would  harm  her,  at  which  she  retired 
to  her  room  again. 

When  she  would  see  a  canoe  of  Indians  coming- 
over  the  river  toward  the  house,  she  would  open 
the  door  and  exclaim  in  the  most  hopeless  voice: 
''They  are  coming-,  they  are  coming,  now  we  shall 
all  be  massacred."  It  was  many  years  before 
she  became  used  to  the  sight  of  the  red  man, 
though  they  lived  all  about  them. 


VII 

DE  LANGLADE  IS  GIVEN  COMMAND  OF  THE  NORTH- 
WEST SAVAGES  AT  THE  BEGINNING  OP  THE 
FRENCH  AND  INDIAN  WAR.  HE  LEADS  THEM 
TO  FORT  DUQUESNE 


AUGUSTINE  de  Langlade  seemed  to  have 
had  martial  ambition  for  his  son,  Charles, 
as  he  purchased  for  him  a  naval  commis- 
sion in  the  French  marine,  while  he  was  yet  a 
youth.  But  he  seems  never  to  have  availed  him- 
self of  its  service,  though  many  times  during  his 
life  he  commanded  long  fleets  of  bark  canoes. 
The  French  had  no  ships  on  any  of  the  inland 
lakes  or  rivers.  He  is  designated  in  1756  in  the 
Mackinaw  mission  records,  when  he  was  twenty 
seven  years  of  age,  as  "Squire  and  officer  in  the 
marine  forces."  The  French  colonial  infantry 
were  under  the  marine  department  of  France, 
hence  while  they  were  land  forces,  they  were 
known  officially  as  of  the  marine. 

When  the  French  and  Indian  war  commenced, 
he  was  a  cadet  at  the  military  post  of  Old  Mack- 
inaw, and  held  the  office  of  Agent  to  the  western 
Indians  for  the  Canadian  Government,  a  position 
he  was  retained  in  under  French  and  English 
rule  until  his  death. 


CHARLES    DELANGLADE  59 

In  the  very  interesting-  Memoirs  of  August!  n 
Grignon,  written  by  Lyman  C.  Draper,  that  lover 
of  the  story  of  these  thrilling  days  in  the  history 
of  our  country,  has  this  to  say  of  this  period  in 
the  life  of  Charles  de  Lang-lade:  "The  French 
and  Indian  war  opened  a  new  field  for  his  enter- 
prising- spirit.  At  the  breaking  out  of  this  war  he 
was  but  twenty-five  years  of  age,  in  the  prime  of 
life  and  full  of  vigor  and  activity.  He  had  been 
raised  on  the  extreme  frontier,  and  though  half 
Indian,  yet  his  educational  advantages  had  been 
fair,  and  he  has  been  for  a  number  of  years  em- 
ployed by  the  Government  in  the  Indian  Depart- 
ment. Thus  he  combined  the  skill  and  strategy 
of  the  border  and  Indian,  and  had  much  exper- 
ience in  Indian  warfare  from  the  tender  age  of  ten, 
when  he  was  with  King  Nissowaquet  on  the  first 
war  path. " 

The  French  and  Indian  war  as  known  to  hist- 
ory, was  a  war  between  the  English  and  French, 
brought  onto  assert  the  claim  of  England  to  the 
country,  east  of  the  state  of  Pennsylvania,  now 
made  into  the  states  of  Ohio,  Indiana  and  Ill- 
inois, and  which  was  mostly  claimed  as  a  part  of 
Virginia.  It  was  fought  with  greater  bitterness, 
because  all  Canada  was  Catholic,  and  the  English 
colonies  were  Protestant;  it  resulted  in  the  loss 
to  France  of  all  Canada  and  Louisiana,  a  vast 
domain  she  had  held  for  one  hundred  and  fifty 
years,  part  of  which  was  twenty  years  later, 


60  CHARLES    DE    L,  A  N  G  L,  A  D  E 

all  that  England  saved  from  the  American  Rev- 
olution. 

In  this  singularly  bloody  war,  Charles  de  Lang- 
lade  was  an  important  officer  of  the  French,  and 
had  his  advice  been  taken  in  those  exciting  days, 
before  Wolfe  scaled  the  heights  of  Abraham,  the 
history  of  Canada  would  have  been  written  differ- 
ently. 

The  French  held  undisputed,  all  the  country 
north  of  the  St.  Lawrence,  and  had  military  posts 
along  the  Mississippi  River,  and  on  the  Wabash 
and  Illinois  Rivers,  and  at  Detroit,  also  below 
Niagara  Falls,  and  at  Presque  Isle,  now  the  City 
of  Erie.  About  this  time  the  French  built  a  post 
at  Venango,  now  Franklin,  and  on  French  Creek, 
in  Pennsylvania,  which  empties  into  the  Alle- 
gheny River  sixty-five  miles  north  of  the  present 
Pittsburgh.  This  fort  was  called  by  the  French, 
Aux  Beaufs,  after  the  creek  on  which  it  stood. 
They  were  also  intending  to  establish  a  post  at 
the  present  site  of  the  City  of  Pittsburgh.  This 
chain  of  military  posts  on  the  west  of  the  English 
settlements  would  give  the  French  a  safe  way 
between  their  establishments  at  Quebec  and  the 
Ohio  River,  in  the  rear  of  the  English  colonists. 

Lieutenant-Governor  Dinwiddie,  of  Virginia, 
sent  George  Washington,  then  a  young  surveyor, 
twenty-two  years  of  age,  with  a  letter  of  protest 
to  the  commander  of  the  French  post  on  French 
Creek  or  Aux  Beaufs,  a  perilous  and  thrilling 


CHARLES DELANGLADE  61 

wildwood  journey,  over  mountains  and  across 
numerous  streams,  with  a  small  escort  of  whites 
and  savages.  He  departed  on  the  31st  of  October, 
1753,  from  Williamsburg,  then  the  capital  of  the 
Province,  and  on  the  4th  of  December,  arrived  at 
the  French  stockade  fort  Venango,  from  which 
he  was  conducted  to  Aux  Beaufs,  to  the  com- 
mandant M.  de  St.  Pierre,  who  entertained  him 
with  great  politeness,  and  gave  him  a  written 
answer.  Washington,  with  his  mechanical  eye, 
took  mental  surveys  and  dimensions  of  the  fort 
and  surroundings.  On  his  return,  an  Indian  fired 
at  him,  and  he  was  nearly  drowned  in  crossing  a 
stream.  The  letter  contained  a  refusal  to  with- 
draw. The  Virginians  determined  to  protect  the 
frontier,  by  the  erection  of  a  fort  at  the  confluence 
of  the  Allegheny  and  Monongahela.  The  party 
of  thirty  men,  sent  to  erect  the  fort,  had  scarcely 
commenced  their  work,  when  they  were  driven 
from  the  ground  by  the  French,  who  completed 
the  work  and  named  it  Fort  Duquesne,  on  the 
18th  day  of  April,  1754.  This  was  on  the  site  of 
the  present  very  large  city  of  Pittsburgh,  Penn- 
sylvania. 

A  body  of  provincial  troops  under  young  Wash- 
ington, marched  toward  the  disputed  territory. 
Hearing  of  the  approach  of  an  advance  detach- 
ment of  French  under  Jummonville,  Washington 
prepared  a  surprise,  and  captured  or  killed  the 
entire  party,  except  one. 


62  CHARLESDELANGLADE 

After  erecting'  a  small  fort  called  Fort  Neces- 
sity, in  the  mountains  west  of  Cumberland,  and 
receiving-  some  reinforcements,  Washington  pro- 
ceeded through  the  gloomy  pine  woods  known  as 
the  "Shades  of  Death,"  with  four  hundred  men, 
toward  Port  Duquesne,  but  hearing  of  the  advance 
of  a  large  body  of  French  and  Indians  under  M. 
Coulon  de  Villers,  he  returned  to  Fort  Necessity, 
where  he  was  attacked  by  eight  hundred  of  the 
enemy.  After  an  obstinate  resistance  of  ten 
hours  in  a  heavy  rainstorm,  Washington  capitula- 
ted July  4,  1754,  and  returned  with  his  provincials. 
This  de  Villers,  who  "was  of  a  fiery  and  impet- 
uous, yet  brave  and  prudent  character,  executing 
the  most  perilous  enterprise,  with  the  most  dar- 
ing intrepidity,"  was  one  of  seven  brave  brothers 
schooled  on  the  frontiers,  six  of  whom  lost  their 
lives  in  these  wars;  one  of  whom  was  the  M.  de 
Jummonville,  killed  in  the  midnight  battle  with 
Washington  mentioned  above. 


VIII 

1755.  DE  LANGLADE  LEADS  HIS  SAVAGE  WAR- 
RIORS AGAINST  BRADDOCK,  AT  THE  MONONGA- 
HELA,  AND  WINS  THE  CELEBRATED  BATTLE. 

IT  having-  been  seen  by  England  that  war  was 
inevitable,  early  in  1755,  General  Braddock 
arrived  from  Ireland,  with  two  regiments  of 
British  troops,  with  the  authority  of  Commander- 
in-Chief  of  the  British  and  Colonial  forces.  At 
a  conference  with  the  Colonial  Governors  in  Vir- 
ginia, three  expeditions  were  determined  upon; 
one  against  Niagara;  one  against  Crown  Point  on 
Lake  Champlain;  and  another  against  Fort  Du- 
quesne,  to  be  commanded  by  General  Braddock 
in  person.  It  was  with  this  expedition  that 
de  Langlade  was  concerned,  and  therefore  we 
leave  the  wide  territory  of  the  other  enterprise 
to  be  read  in  other  histories. 

The  fort  at  Duquesne,  as  constructed  by  the 
French  was  a  stockade  or  picket  fort,  surround- 
ing a  few  log  buildings  in  which  the  commandant, 
Contrecoeur  lodged,  and  barracks  for  a  few  sol- 
diers, now  occupied  by  about  forty  soldiers  and 
five  officers.  There  were  about  two  hundred  to 
four  hundred  French  soldiers  there  most  of  the 
time,  but  most  of  these  lodged  in  bark  cabins 
outside  the  fort.  It  was  carelessly  guarded  as 


64  CHARLES    DE    LANGLADE 

the  gates  were  open  and  Indians  had  access  to  it 
at  all  times  day  and  night. 

It  was  said  that  a  hundred  determined  rangers 
or  Indians,  could  have  easily  seized  the  place. 
Though  under  proper  guard  it  was  a  strong  posi- 
tion, as  protected  on  three  sides  by  the  deep  wide 
waters  of  two  great  rivers,  which  at  this  point 
formed  the  Ohio.  It  was  in  a  wild  country,  sur- 
rounded by  mountains  covered  with  a  dense  for- 
est and  almost  inaccessible  from  the  English 
colonies.  No  settlements  were  within  many  miles 
of  the  fort. 

The  French,  inspired  by  the  preparations  made 
by  England,  sent  out  runners  to  warn  the  Cana- 
dians and  post  commanders  at  the  distant  posts 
of  New  France  and  Louisiana,  to  render  such 
assistance  as  was  possible,  the  coming  summer  of 
1755,  and  to  strengthen  all  the  fortifications  for 
the  coming  conflict. 

"Such  was  the  high  standing  and  reputation  of 
Sieur  Charles  de  Langlade,  his  long  experience 
in  border  service,  his  personal  relationship  to  the 
powerful  Ottawa,  his  thorough  knowledge  of 
their  language,  and  that  of  the  neighboring  tribes, 
and  his  great  influence  over  them,  that  he  was 
at  once  pointed  out  to  Vaudreuil,  the  Governor 
General  of  New  France  and  Louisiana,  as  admir- 
ably fitted  to  head  the  partisan  forces  of  border 
French  and  Indians  of  the  great  northwest  in  the 
terrible  conflict  about  to  commence,"  says  Lyman 
C.  Draper. 


RATTLE  SNAKE 

Or  Waa-kaun-see-kaa,  a  Winnebago  chief,  as  painted  by  J.  O.  Lewis  from  life  m 
1825.     The  head  dress  is  the  true  skin  of  a  snake. 


CHARLES    DE    LANGLADE  65 

De  Langlade  held  a  commission  in  the  naval 
service,  and  had  been  since  March  28,  1750,  a 
cadet  in  the  French  army  under  Captain  Herbin 
at  Old  Mackinaw.  He  was  given  instructions  to 
raise  the  tribes  of  the  Northwest,  and  with  such 
Canadian  bourgeois,  coureurs  de  bois,  habitants, 
and  rangers  as  could  be  interested  in  the  initial 
campaign,  to  proceed  to  the  defense  of  Fort 
Duquesne  and  the  valley  of  the  Ohio.  As  the  tra- 
ders and  their  men,  those  hardy  woodsmen,  and 
hunters,  and  the  Indians,  returned  in  the  spring 
of  1755,  from  their  winter  hunting  and  fishing  on 
the  far  away  streams  of  the  country,  now  known 
as  Wisconsin  and  Michigan,  they  were  advised  of 
the  coming  war.  Presents  were  distributed  among 
the  Indians,  as  from  Onontio,  as  they  called  the 
Governor  of  Canada.  Their  services  were  en- 
listed, and  they  promised  to  go  on  the  war-path 
for  their  friends  and  defenders.  The  Ottawas 
with  a  powerful  band  of  possibly  two  hundred 
warriors  were  led  by  their  proud  chief,  Nissowa- 
quet,  whose  village  was  about  thirty  miles  from 
Old  Mackinaw  down  the  Michigan  shore,  at 
L'Arbre  Croche,  in  present  State  of  Michigan. 
The  Ottawa  had  been  called  "The  savages  of 
savages."  The  Winnebago  had  their  village  on 
Doty  Island,  now  City  of  Menasha,  Wisconsin, 
thirty-five  miles  up  the  Fox  River  from  La  Baye. 
Here  Sebrevoir  de  Carrie,  a  retired  French  offi- 
cer, had  married  the  Queen  of  the  tribe,  "Glory 


66  CHARLES    DE    LANGLADE 

of  the  Morning."  There  were  possibly  one  hun- 
dred of  this  tribe,  who  took  the  war-path  for  Port 
Duquesne,  either  under  DeCarrie  himself,  or  some 
of  their  chiefs.  They  were  a  fierce,  brave,  fear- 
less race,  descended  from  the  warlike  Sioux  of 
the  Plains. 

The  Menomonee  were  then  at  Old  Kings  Vil- 
lage, across  the  river  from  the  de  Langlade  home, 
at  La  Baye,  and  led  by  the  brave  Old  Carron,  a 
half  blood,  and  the  Old  King,  a  brave,  kind 
hearted  savage,  then  in  his  prime,  about  one 
hundred  warriors  donned  the  war  paint.  The  few 
Pottawattamies  who  listened  to  de  Langlade's 
call,  were  led  by  Quenamek  and  Mikisable,  their 
war  chiefs.  They  had  their  villages  then,  about 
the  lower  end  of  Lake  Michigan.  Some  Chippe- 
was,  brother  of  the  Ottawa,  and  doubtless  some 
Sac  and  Fox,  excited  by  the  prospect  of  plunder 
and  rapine,  joined  this  dusky  throng  on  their 
way  to  unhorse  Braddock  and  send  him  to  an  un- 
marked and  dishonored  grave.  It  is  said  that 
Pontiac  was  of  the  party.  Among  the  Creole 
colony  of  La  Baye  who  were  led  by  de  Langlade 
into  this  conflict,  was  his  brother-in-law,  Sou- 
ligny;  the  brave  Gautier  de  Verville,  who  became 
a  hero  of  this  long  war.  Pierre  Querat  or  Caree 
was  a  valiant  companion  in  arms;  Amable  de  Gere 
or  La  Rose,  a  brave  and  devoted  follower,  with 
La  Fortune,  a  French  trader,  with  an  Ottawa 
wife,  and  who  was  a  splendid  shot;  and  those 


CHARLES    DELANGLADE  67 

other  hunters,  sharp-shooters  and  borderers,  La 
Choisie,  Louis  Hamelin,  Macard  and  many  others, 
inured  to  hardships  and  perils. 

As  fast  as  these  bands  were  ready  they  gathered 
their  canoes  and  sped  over  the  waters  of  Lake 
Michigan  and  Huron,  past  Detroit  and  through 
Lake  Erie  to  the  French  post  at  the  present  City 
of  Erie;  whence  Langlade  led  them  over  the  hills 
and  through  the  woods  to  the  little  fort  Duquesne 
at  the  head  of  the  Ohio,  where  they  were  soon 
destined  to  make  important  history.  With  them 
there  were  also  the  Hurons  or  Wyandots  of  Lake 
Huron. 

Langlade 's  motley  throng  of  savages,  about 
four  or  five  hundred,  with  his  border  partisans  ar- 
rived at  Fort  Duquesne  about  the  1st  of  July,  1755. 

About  thirty  days  before  General  Braddock  had 
commenced  his  fatal  march  from  Fort  Cumber- 
land, at  the  present  site  of  the  City  of  Cumberland, 
in  Maryland,  and  had  arrived  near  the  site  of 
Fort  Necessity,  where  Washington  was  defeated 
the  previous  year. 

General  Braddock  was  a  very  brave  man.  He 
did  not  know  what  fear  was.  He  once  had  a  duel. 
As  they  were  going  to  engage,  his  opponent  of- 
fered him  his  purse,  saying:  "Braddock,  you  are 
a  poor  dog,  here  take  my  purse;  if  you  kill  me, 
you  will  be  forced  to  run  awa'y,  and  have  not  a 
shilling."  Braddock  refused  the  purse,  insisted 
on  the  duel,  was  disarmed  and  would  not  even 


68  CHARLES    DE    LANGLADE 

ask  for  his  life.  He  had  a  sister  who  gamed  away 
all  her  fortune  at  Bath  and  hung-  herself.  When 
Braddock  was  told  of  it,  he  only  said:  "Poor 
Fanny,  I  always  thought  she  would  play  till  she 
would  be  forced  to  tuck  herself  up." 

He  was  appointed  to  the  position  of  General-in- 
Chief  in  America,  because  he  had  been  forty  years 
in  the  Guards,  "that  school  of  exact  discipline," 
and  he  was  supposed  to  have  the  ability  to  make 
soldiers  of  the  "raw  recruits  in  America."  But 
his  experience  was  that  of  routine,  and  he  could 
not  overcome  the  difficulties  of  a  wild  wilderness 
and  Indian  warfare.  There  were  no  roads,  and 
he  was  obliged  to  make  them  to  transport  his 
train  of  baggage  and  artillery,  which  so  encum- 
bered his  march  that  he  could  move  only  a  few 
miles  each  day.  It  took  several  weeks  to  find 
horses  enough  to  move  his  array;  and  flour,  pro- 
visions and  horse  feed  were  very  scarce  in  this  new 
country.  He  rode  in  a  lumbering  chariot  until  he 
was  obliged  to  abandon  it;  and  it  required  one 
hundred  and  twenty-five  horse.s  to  move  the  per- 
sonal baggage  of  the  officers.  The  baggage  train 
was  four  miles  long.  All  this  seems  ridiculous, 
when  it  is  known,  the  savage  and  borderer,  under 
de  Langlade,  wore  only  breeches  and  hunting 
shirt,  some  of  them  carrying  a  blanket  for  night 
use.  They  had  their  guns  and  spears,  but  no  bag- 
gage train  or  baggage,  nor  horses,  and  could 
travel  through  forest  and  over  mountains  many 
miles  in  a  single  day. 


CHARLESDELANGLADE  69 

Washington,  who  had  accepted  as  a  volunteer 
the  appointment  as  Aid  on  the  staff  of  the  Gen- 
eral, had  urged  the  difficulty  of  transporting  so 
many  unnecessary  things;  but  Braddack  had 
only  smiled  at  his  ignorance  of  military  move- 
ments. The  Cherokees  and  Catawbas  had  been 
induced  to  take  up  the  hatchet  for  the  English; 
but  after  assembling  became  restless  by  the  long 
delays,  and  all  deserted.  Captain  Jack,  the  fa- 
mous hunter  and  Indian  fighter  of  the  Juniata, 
with  his  borderer  band  of  hardy  hunters,  in 
buckskin  blouses  and  gun  ever  ready;  who  slept 
like  the  children  of  the  forest,  with  one  eye  open; 
who  were  worth  on  this  expedition  all  the  Brit- 
ish army,  volunteered  their  services  as  scouts 
without  pay,  and  to  find  their  own.  "They  re- 
quired no  shelter  for  the  night.  They  ask  no 
pay, "  writes  Croghan,  the  veteran  frontier  trader. 
"The  band  had  become  famous  for  its  exploits, 
and  was  a  terror  to  the  Indians,"  says  Irving. 
When  the  band  came  to  report  to  Braddock,  he 
received  them  insolently,  saying  he  "had  expe- 
rienced troops,  on  whom  he  could  completely  rely 
for  all  purposes."  The  brave,  wild  woods  band 
silently  disappeared  into  the  woods  again  and 
left  Braddock  to  his  fate.  Often  in  the  kindest 
manner  young  Washington  had  urged  on  Brad- 
dock  the  propriety  of  permitting  the  provincials, 
who  were  acquainted  with  the  methods  of  savage 
warfare,  to  scout  out  on  the  advance  of  the  line; 


70  CHARLES    DELANGLADE 

but  the  old  General  could  not  be  told  anything 
new  about  war;  his  "trained  British  soldier  did 
not  require  the  assistance  of  raw  recruits. "  Be- 
fore starting"  out  Braddock  was  outlining  to 
Benjamin  Franklin  how,  when  he  had  taken 
Duquesne,  he  would  go  at  once  to  Niagara,  and 
having  taken  that  fort,  proceed  to  Frontenac 
(now  Kingston  in  Canada).  Franklin  replied: 
"If  you  arrive  well  before  the  fort,  you  ought  to 
take  it;  but  the  danger  I  apprehend  is  from  am- 
buscade of  the  Indians,  who  are  dexterous  in 
laying  and  executing  them.  Your  slender  line 
four  miles  long  will  expose  it  to  attack  on  the 
flanks  and  to  be  cut  like  thread  into  several 
pieces,  which  from  their  distance  cannot  come  up 
in  time  to  support  each  other. "  Franklin  reports 
his  reply  as:  "He  smiled  at  my  ignorance,"  and 
replied:  "These  savages  may  indeed  be  a  formid- 
able enemy  to  the  raw  American  militia,  but  upon 
the  King's  regular  and  disciplined  troops,  Sir,  it 
is  impossible  they  should  make  any  impression. " 
Braddock  set  out  from  Fort  Cumberland  with 
his  cumbersome  army  of  1,600  men  straggling 
along  three  or  four  miles  in  extended  line,  on  the 
10th  of  June,  1755,  dragging  heavily  laden  wa- 
gons and  artillery  up  the  steep  and  rugged  new 
cut  roads,  over  the  hills,  through  dense  dark  for- 
ests, over  two  mountains,  and  on  the  16th  of  June 
was  at  "Little  Meadows."  He  had  now  become 
aware  of  the  difference  between  campaigning  in 


CHARLES DELANGLADE  71 

a  new  country,  and  the  well  beaten  battle  grounds 
of  Europe.  Now  of  his  own  accord  he  asked  ad- 
vice of  young  Washington,  who  replied,  that  the 
present  was  a  splendid  opportunity  to  strike  an 
effective  blow  at  Fort  Duquesne,  which  might  be 
lost  by  delay.  The  garrison  was  weak,  reinforce- 
ments on  the  way  would  be  delayed  by  the  low 
water  in  the  Allegheny  River.  The  blow  must 
be  struck  before  they  could  arrive.  He  therefore 
advised  him  to  leave  the  baggage,  and  stores, 
and  all  cumbrous  appurtenances  of  the  army,  and 
push  on  with  the  choicest  troops.  His  advice 
was  accepted.  Twelve  hundred  selected  men 
pushed  on  with  their  stores  on  pack  horses.  Col- 
onel Dunbar  was  left  to  follow  with  the  heavy 
baggage,  stores  and  munitions.  But  the  officers 
still  clung  to  their  extra  equipment  and  Braddock 
was  so  inexperienced  in  this  sort  of  movement, 
where  every  difficulty  should  be  ''met  in  a  rough 
and  ready  style."  "I  found,"  said  Washington, 
"that  instead  of  pushing  on  with  vigor,  they 
were  halting  to  level  every  molehill  and  erect 
bridges  over  every  brook,  by  which  means,  we 
were  four  days  in  getting  twelve  miles." 

The  French  commandant  had  sent  out  Le  Sieur 
de  la  Perade  with  a  scouting  party  of  French  and 
Indians,  who  watched  every  movement  of  the 
English  army,  and  sent  messages  constantly  to 
the  fort,  detailing  its  number  and  progress.  They 
hovered  about  the  outskirts  of  the  long  march, 


72  CHARLES    DELANGLADE 

watching  to  capture  or  kill  those  who  strayed 
without  the  lines.  They  often  camped  on  the  line 
of  march. 

Near  the  Yougbiogheny  River,  Braddock's  ad- 
vance came  on  to  their  deserted  camp.  They 
judged  it  had  contained  about  one  hundred  and 
fifty  warriors.  Some  of  the  trees  had  been 
stripped  and  painted  with  threats,  bravadoes, 
and  scurrilous  taunts,  written  on  them  in  French, 
by  which  they  knew  white  men  were  in  the  scout- 
ing party. 

Five  days  before  this,  while  Chief  Scarooyadi 
and  his  son,  who  were  among  a  small  band  of 
savages  still  remaining  with  Washington,  were 
at  a  short  distance  from  the  British  line  of  march, 
they  were  captured  by  the  French  and  Indians. 
The  son  escaped  to  his  warriors,  who  hastened  to 
revenge  him,  but  found  the  chief  tied  to  a  tree. 
The  French  had  wanted  to  shoot  him,  but  the 
Indians  would  not  permit  it.  On  the  25th  of  June, 
three  men  who  ventured  beyond  the  sentinels 
were  shot  and  scalped,  and  parties  were  sent  out 
to  scour  the  woods. 

The  great  Savage  Mountains  had  now  been 
passed,  and  also  the  great  black  pine  forests 
known  as  the  "Shades  of  Death."  This  days 
march  passed  by  the  Great  Meadows  and  the  site 
of  Fort  Necessity,  where  Colonel  Washington 
was  captured  the  previous  year.  Several  Indians 
were  seen  hovering  in  the  woods,  and  the  light 


CHARLES    DELANGLADE  73 

horse  and  Indian  allies  were  sent  out  to  surround 
them,  but  did  not  succeed.  In  crossing-  the  moun- 
tains beyond  the  Great  Meadows  the  cannon  car- 
riages had  to  be  lowered  by  blocks  and  rope. 
The  camp  for  the  night  was  two  miles  beyond 
Fort  Necessity.  The  French  scouts  on  a  recon- 
noiter  were  fired  on  by  the  advance  sentinels. 

On  the  following  day  there  was  a  tiresome 
march  of  only  four  miles,  by  a  very  rough  road. 
The  night  halt  was  on  another  Indian  camp  which 
had  been  strongly  posted  on  a  high  rock,  with  a 
steep,  narrow  ascent.  It  had  a  spring  in  the 
middle  and  stood  at  the  termination  of  the  Indian 
path  to  the  Monongehela,  by  which  came  the 
party  who  the  year  before  had  attacked  Colonel 
Washington. 

The  Indians  and  French  had  but  just  left  this 
camp  as  their  fires  were  still  burning.  They  had 
written  their  names  on  some  of  the  trees,  with 
insulting  and  bravado  remarks,  designating  the 
scalps  they  had  taken  two  days  before.  Those 
sent  out  to  follow  them  in  the  night,  had  no  suc- 
cess. ''In  fact  it  was  the  Indian  boast,  that 
throughout  this  march  of  Braddock,  they  saw 
him  every  day,  from  the  mountains,  and  expected 
to  be  able  to  shoot  down  his  soldiers  like  pig- 
eons," says  Irving. 

The  march  continued  to  be  toilsome  and  labor- 
ious. One  day  they  made  only  two  miles,  cutting 
a  passage  over  a  mountain.  The  evidence  of  the 


74  CHARLESDELANGLADE 

presence  of  the  enemy  caused  an  order  to  be 
issued  for  drawing1  the  charges  in  cleaning"  their 
guns,  not  to  fire  it  off,  and  no  fires  in  front 
of  pickets.  At  night  guns  must  be  taken  into  the 
tents,  the  guards  were  double,  relieving  each 
other  every  two  hours  at  night. 

On  July  4th  they  camped  at  Thicketty  Run. 
The  country  was  more  level  and  the  pine  woods 
more  open  about  thirty  miles  south  of  Fort  Du- 
quesne.  The  General  prevailed  on  some  of  the 
Indians  and  Christopher  Gist,  the  famous  scout, 
to  reconnoiter  the  fort.  They  were  close  to  the 
place  and  reported  no  new  works.  The  Indians 
caught  a  French  officer  without  the  works  and 
scalped  him.  None  of  the  passes  between  the 
camp  and  the  fort  were  occupied.  Gist  had  been 
seen  and  pursued  by  two  Indians,  barely  escaping 
with  his  life.  On  the  same  day  during  the  march, 
four  men,  loitering  in  the  rear  of  the  grenadiers, 
were  killed  and  scalped.  Several  grenadiers  set 
off  to  take  revenge.  They  came  upon  a  party  of 
Indians  who  held  up  green  boughs  and  grounded 
their  arms  in  sign  of  friends,  but  the  grenadiers 
fired  on  them  killing  the  son  of  their  friendly 
chief  Scarooyadi.  They  brought  the  body  to 
camp  and  Braddock  made  the  customary  presents 
of  condolence,  and  buried  the  youth  with  the 
honors  of  war. 

General  Braddock  had  now  consumed  a  month 
in  marching  about  one  hundred  miles,  to  the  sur- 


CHARLES DELANGLADE  75 

prise  and  disappointment  of  friends  in  America 
and  Europe.  Horace  Walpole  wrote,  that  the 
Duke  of  Brunswick  "is  much  dissatisfied  at  the 
slowness  of  General  Braddock  who  does  not 
march  as  if  he  was  at  all  impatient  to  be  scalped." 
The  army  was  now  at  the  Monongehela,  on  the 
same  side  of  the  river  as  the  fort,  but  was  con- 
fronted by  a  high  mountain,  through  which  the 
river  had  cut  a  passage,  and  to  get  to  the  other 
side  of  the  mountain  they  crossed  the  river,  trav- 
ersed through  the  pass  on  the  opposite  side,  and 
then  must  recross  at  the  other  side  of  the  moun- 
tain, and  beyond  Turtle  Creek  to  gain  the  same 
side  within  ten  miles  of  the  fort.  Colonel  Gage 
was  to  take  the  advance,  with  Captain  Horatio 
Gates  of  the  Virginia  provincials,  on  the  9th  of 
July,  to  cross  the  fords  in  advance  to  protect  the 
army.  With  him  there  were  two  companies  of 
grenadiers  and  one  hundred  and  sixty  infantry, 
with  two  six  pounder  cannon.  Colonel  Washing- 
ton, fearing  for  the  regulars,  as  being  unused  to 
bush  fighting,  suggested  the  Virginia  rangers 
and  sharpshooters,  being  accustomed  to  Indian 
warfare,  might  be  thrown  in  advance,  which  drew 
an  angry  reply  from  the  General,  indignant  that 
so  young  a  provincial  officer  should  presume  to 
school  a  veteran  like  himself.  A  party  of  sixty 
savages  rushed  out  at  Colonel  Gage  as  his  men 
marched  over  the  second  ford,  but  were  quickly 
put  to  flight. 


76  CHARLESDELANGLADE 

"By  sunrise  the  main  body  turned  out  in  full 
uniform.  At  the  beating  of  'the  general'  their 
arms  which  had  been  cleaned  the  night  before 
were  charged  with  fresh  cartridges.  The  officers 
were  perfectly  equipped.  All  looked  as  if  ar- 
rayed for  a  fete,  rather  than  a  battle. "  This  day 
they  were  to  march  on  Fort  Duquesne.  Wash- 
ington who  was  very  weak  from  a  prolonged 
fever,  mounted  his  horse,  joining  the  General's 
staff.  "As  it  was  supposed  the  enemy  would  be 
on  the  watch  for  the  crossing  of  the  troops,  it  had 
been  agreed  that  they  should  do  it  in  the  greatest 
order,  with  bayonets  fixed,  colors  flying  and 
drums  beating  and  fifes  playing.  They  made  a 
gallant  appearance  as  they  forded  the  Mononge- 
hela  and  wound  along  its  banks,  through  the  open 
forests,  gleaming  and  glittering  in  the  morning 
sunshine,  and  stepping  buoyantly  to  the  'Gren- 
adier's March, '  in  high  confidence  and  bright  ar- 
ray, on  the  eve  of  a  battle." 

Fort  Duquesne  as  now  improved,  was  solidly 
built  and  strong,  as  compared  with  other  wooden 
French  posts.  The  front  was  of  squared  logs, 
filled  in  with  earth  ten  feet  thick;  and  the  river 
sides  protected  by  a  heavy  stockade  of  logs,  set 
on  end  in  the  ground,  twelve  feet  high.  The 
armament  consisted  of  a  number  of  small  cannon 
mounted  on  bastions.  They  fired  an  iron  ball, 
about  three  inches  in  diameter.  In  front  there 
was  a  deep  ditch.  The  area  within  was  sur- 


CHARLESDELANGLADE  77 

rounded  with  the  barracks  of  the  soldiers,  officers 
quarters,  the  house  of  the  commandant,  the  guard 
house,  all  built  of  logs  and  lumber.  The  forest 
had  been  cleared  away  for  a  distance  in  front  and 
the  stumps  cut  to  the  ground.  Here  bark  cabins 
had  been  set  up  for  the  Canadians  and  soldiers, 
who  could  not  find  room  within  the  enclosure. 
The  cleared  space  was  also  planted  to  Indian 
corn  and  peas.  The  garrison  now  consisted  of 
about  three  hundred  regular  French  troops,  who 
had  been  sent  to  its  defence,  with  about  one  hun- 
dred and  fifty  Canadian  militia.  Contrecueur  was 
in  command.  Under  him  were  three  captains, 
Beaujeu,  Dumas,  Ligneris.  There  were  also, 
"eight  hundred  Indian  warriors  mustered  from 
far  and  near,"  says  Francis  Parkman,  who,  "had 
built  their  wigwams  and  camp-sheds  on  the  open 
ground,  or  under  the  edge  of  the  neighboring 
woods — very  little  to  the  advantage  of  the  young 
corn. ' ' 

"Some  were  baptized  savages  settled  in  Cana- 
da— Caughnawagas  from  Saut  St.  Louis,  Abena- 
kis  from  St.  Francis,  and  Hurons  from  Lorette, 
whose  chief  bore  the  name  of  Anastase,  in  honor 
of  that  Father  of  the  Church.  The  rest  were 
unmitigated  heathen — Pottawattamies  and  Ojib- 
was  from  the  northern  lakes  under  Charles  de 
Langlade,  the  same  bold  partisan  who  had  led 
them,  three  years  before,  to  attack  the  Miamis  at 
Pickawillany;  Shawanoes  and  Mingoes  from  the 


78  CHARLESDELANGLADE 

Ohio;  and  Ottawas  from  Detroit  commanded,  it 
is  said,  by  that  most  redoubtable  of  savages, 
Pontiac.  The  law  of  the  survival  of  the  fittest 
had  wrought  on  this  heterogeneous  crew  through 
countless  generations;  and  with  the  primitive 
Indian,  the  fittest  were  the  hardiest,  fiercest,  most 
adroit  and  most  wily.  Baptized  and  heathen 
alike,  they  had  just  enjoyed  a  diversion  greatly 
to  their  taste.  A  young  Pennsylvanian  named 
James  Smith,  a  spirited  and  intelligent  boy  of 
eighteen,  had  been  waylaid  by  three  Indians  on 
the  western  borders  of  the  province,  and  led  cap- 
tive to  the  fort.  "When  the  party  came  to  the 
edge  of  the  clearing,  his  captors,  who  had  shot 
and  scalped  his  companion,  raised  the  scalp  yell; 
whereupon  a  din  of  responsive  whoops  and  firing 
of  guns  rose  from  all  the  Indian  camps,  and  their 
inmates  swarmed  out  like  bees,  while  the  French 
in  the  fort  shot  off  muskets  and  cannon  to  honor 
the  occasion.  The  unfortunate  boy,  the  object  of 
this  obstreperous  rejoicing,  presently  saw  a  mul- 
titude of  savages,  naked,  hideously  bedaubed 
with  red,  blue,  black  and  brown,  and  armed  with 
sticks  or  clubs,  ranging  themselves  in  two  long, 
parallel  lines  between  which  he  was  told  that  he 
must  run,  the  faster  the  better,  as  they  would 
beat  him  all  the  way.  He  ran  with  his  best 
speed,  under  a  shower  of  blows,  and  had  nearly 
reached  the  end  of  the  course,  when  he  was 
knocked  down.  He  tried  to  rise,  but  was  blinded 


CHARLESDELANGLADE  79 

by  a  handful  of  sand  thrown  into  his  face;  and 
then  they  beat  him  till  he  swooned.  On  coming 
to  his  senses,  he  found  himself  in  the  fort,  with 
the  surgeon  opening  a  vein  in  his  arm,  and  a 
crowd  of  French  and  Indians  looking  on.  In  a 
few  days  he  was  able  to  walk  with  the  help  of  a 
stick;  and,  coming1  out  from  his  quarters  one 
morning,  he  saw  a  memorable  scene. 

In  his  fort  sat  Contrecoeur,  disconsolate  and 
discouraged.  He  had  received  daily  reports  of 
the  elegant  soldier  like  array  of  the  English 
army,  as  it  slowly  but  surely,  came  over  the 
mountains  and  wound  through  the  defiles.  His 
scouts  watching  from  the  mountain  top  and  for- 
ests cover,  had  seen  its  long-,  endless  gleam  of 
red  coated,  splendid  grenadiers,  drilled  in  the 
Colechester  Guards,  marching-  slowly  but  surely 
to  their  destruction,  and  had  reported  them  as 
three  thousand  in  number,  with  cannon  and  guns. 
Now  the  English  were  at  the  Monongahela.  He 
knew  he  could  not  withstand  this  gallant  army. 
He  did  not  know  which  was  preferable,  to  aban- 
don the  fort  at  once  and  make  the  best  of  his 
opportunity  to  retreat,  or  remain  and  propose  an 
honorable  surrender.  The  hopeless  cause  of  the 
French,  was  as  well  known  to  his  officers  as  to 
the  commander  of  Fort  Duquesne. 

On  the  eighth,  the  brothers  Normanville  went 
out,  and  reported  the  English  within  six  leagues 
of  the  fort.  The  French  were  in  great  excitement 


80  CHARLES    DE    LANGLADE 

and  alarm,  but  Contrecoeur  at  length  took  a  res- 
olution probably  inspired  by  de  Langlade,  to 
meet  the  enemy  on  the  march  and  ambuscade 
them  if  possible  at  the  crossing-  of  the  Mononga- 
hela.  Beaujeu  was  given  the  command.  He 
received  the  communion  as  did  all  of  the  detach- 
ment, and  prepared  to  depart  early  in  the  morn- 
ing, (July  9th,  1755).  Open  barrels  of  gunpowder 
and  bullets  were  set  before  the  gates.  James 
Smith,  the  captive  Pennsylvania  boy  described 
above,  "painfully  climbing  the  ramparts  with 
the  help  of  his  stick,  looked  down  on  the  warrior 
rabble,  as  huddling  together,  wild  with  excite- 
ment, they  scooped  up  the  contents  to  fill  their 
powder  horns  and  pouches;  then  band  after  band, 
filed  off  along  the  forest  track  that  led  to  the 
ford  of  the  Monongahela." 

"They  numbered  six  hundred  and  thirty-seven; 
and  with  them  went  thirty  six  French  officers 
and  cadets,  seventy-two  regular  soldiers,  and  a 
hundred  and  forty-six  Canadians,  or  about  nine 
hundred  in  all.  At  eight  o'clock  the  tumult  was 
over.  The  broad  clearing  lay  lonely  and  still, 
and  Contrecoeur,  with  what  was  left  of  the  garri- 
son, waited  with  suspense  for  the  issue." 

Francis  Parkman  says,  it  was  near  one  o'clock 
when  Braddock  crossed  the  Monongahela  for  the 
second  time;  Washington  Irving  says,  it  was  two 
o'clock.  Braddock  had  expected  that  if  the 
French  made  a  stand  it  would  be  at  the  last  ford- 


DK  LANGLADK'S  IVORY-HANDLED,  SILVER-MOUNTED 
FLINT  LOCK  PISTOLS 

From  photograph  kindly  furnished  by  Dr.  Reuben  Gold  Thwaits,  Secretary  of  the 
Wisconsin  Historical  Society,  where  they  are  deposited. 


CHARLES    DELANGLADE  81 

ing  place  and  had  therefore  sent  Lieutenant-Col- 
onel Gage  across  in  advance  with  a  strong  de- 
tachment. Francis  Parkman  asks:  ''Why  had  not 
de  Beaujeu  defended  the  ford?"  This  was  his  in- 
tention in  the  morning;  some  one  has  made  the 
excuse  for  him  that  three  hundred  of  his  Indians 
had  gone  off  in  another  direction,  and  did  not 
return  for  several  hours.  Parkman  after  stating 
this  report  says:  "Hence  perhaps  it  was  that, 
having  left  Port  Duquesne  at  eight  o'clock,  he 
spent  half  the  day  marching  seven  miles  and  was 
more  than  a  mile  from  the  fording  place  when  the 
British  reached  the  eastern  shore.  The  delay 
from  whatever  cause  arising,  cost  him  the  oppor- 
tunity of  laying  an  ambush  either  at  the  ford  or 
in  the  gullies  and  ravines,  that  channelled  the 
forest  through  which  Braddock  was  now  on  the 
point  of  marching. " 

Back  there  in  the  forest  the  brave  de  Beaujeu 
stood  paralyzed  by  the  magnitude  of  the  task  be- 
fore him.  The  Canadian  militia  were  an  uncer- 
tain factor  then.  The  Indians  might  stand  or 
run,  he  could  not  be  certain  of  which.  The 
seventy-two  regulars  of  the  French  army  were  all 
the  men  he  could  depend  on  to  meet  that  trained 
army  of  the  English,  and  the  enemy  had  cannon, 
and  he  had  none.  But  there  was  one  among  that 
party  who  led  a  band  of  painted  savages,  though 
gathered  from  many  miles  apart,  who  was  certain 
what  they  would  do. 


82  CHARLES    DELANGLADE 

Charles  de  Langlade  was  in  command  of  his 
western  savages,  who  had  been  scouting  and 
prowling  about  the  English  line,  for  plunder  and 
information,  during  the  week  that  he  had  been  in 
camp.  He  kept  his  savages  busy  as  the  only  way 
to  hold  them  up  to  their  duty.  He  had  sent  out 
runners  and  called  them  all  up  and  led  them  on 
the  march  with  de  Beaujeu,  on  the  orders  he  had 
daily  expected,  to  ambush  the  English.  But  now 
was  the  last  moment  and  no  order  came.  When 
noon  arrived  and  Braddock's  army  was  divided 
on  both  sides  of  the  river,  he  rushed  to  de  Beaujeu 
and  asked  to  be  ordered  to  attack  at  once. 

De  Beaujeu  hesitated.  '  'If  you  inten d  to  figh t, ' ' 
de  Langlade  exclaimed,  "it  must  be  now  or 
never."  De  Beaujeu  made  no  reply.  He  did  not 
know  what  to  do. 

"I  came  here  to  fight,"  exclaimed  de  Langlade; 
"my  savages  are  ready,  they  see  the  chance,  the 
only  chance  to  ambush  that  splendid  array  with 
success.  We  all  know  we  are  no  match  for  them 
in  the  open,  with  our  few  French  soldiers  and  the 
Indians.  They  outnumber  us.  We  must  ambush 
them  while  they  are  divided." 

Captain  de  Beaujeu  had  been  sent  out  to  attack 
the  enemy,  if  possible.  He  felt  it  was  useless  to 
attempt  any  defense  of  the  passes  of  the  river. 
Charles  de  Langlade  was  made  of  different  metal. 
He  believed  in  making  the  most  of  their  oppor- 
tunity. He  knew  the  enemy  were  unused  to  the 


CHARLES    DELANGLADE  83 

Indian  war-fare,  and  besides  were  tired  with  their 
strenuous  march.  He  believed  there  was  a  pos- 
sibility of  success,  in  a  vigorous,  determined  fight, 
under  cover  of  the  forests.  He  rushed  over  to 
the  chiefs  of  his  savage  bands,  and  got  them  to 
go  at  once  to  de  Beaujeu  and  demand  to  be  led  to 
fight.  That  was  what  they  came  for.  He  should 
fight  while  the  army  of  the  enemy  was  divided. 
But  de  Beaujeu  was  still  undecided,  and  would 
not  give  the  order. 

In  the  meantime,  their  brilliant  grenadiers  had 
reached  the  second  ford.  To  slope  the  ba  nksor 
the  passage  of  the  artillery  and  baggage  required 
until  one  o'clock.  The  army  rested  for  dinner. 
At  one  o'clock  the  English  crossed  over  the  sec- 
ond ford  to  join  Gates,  with  drums  beating,  fifes 
playing  as  before.  When  all  were  over  there  was 
a  halt  to  reform  near  Frazier's  Run.  The  advance 
was  under  Gage,  preceded  by  the  engineers  and 
guides,  and  six  light  horsemen.  Then  came  Sir 
John  St.  Clair  and  the  working  party  with  their 
wagons  and  two  six-pounders.  On  each  side  were 
four  flanking  parties.  Then  at  some  distance  the 
general  was  to  follow  with  the  main  body.  The 
artillery  and  baggage  were  preceded,  and  flanked 
by  light  horse,  and  squads  of  infantry,  while  the 
Virginians  and  other  provincial  troops  were  to 
form  the  rear  guard.  The  ground  before  them 
was  level  for  half  a  mile  from  the  river,  when  it 
rose  to  hills  covered  with  long  grass,  bushes  and 
trees  on  the  hillside. 


84  CHARLESDELANGLADE 

On  the  right  was  the  high  mountain  covered 
with  trees,  and  on  the  left,  ravines  and  hills  con- 
cealed by  forest.  The  clear  space  before  them 
was  the  road  twelve  feet  wide  made  by  the 
sappers. 

When  the  Indian  Chiefs  returned  to  Charles  de 
Langlade  without  success  in  urging  Captain  de 
Beaujeu  to  order  the  ambush,  he  ran  through  the 
woods  to  the  place  where  the  Captain  was,  and 
urged  him  again  to  give  the  order  at  once.  If  he 
waited  until  after  the  English  had  finished  their 
dinner,  and  joined  their  comrades  on  this  side  of 
the  river,  their  chance  of  success  would  be  very 
small. 

Captain  de  Beaujeu  still  hesitated.  But  de 
Langlade  vehemently  urged  him  to  order  the  fight 
to  begin.  He  exclaimed:  "If  we  are  going  to 
fight,  we  must  do  it  while  the  English  not  sus- 
pecting danger,  have  laid  aside  their  arms,  or 
when  they  are  fording  the  river,  for  they  are  su- 
perior in  number  and  it  would  be  useless  to  waste 
our  lives  in  the  open  country." 

At  last  the  urgency  of  de  Langlade 's  appeal, 
seemed  to  affect  him.  He  bounded  up  and  said: 
"All  right,  Sieur  de  Langlade,  get  the  Chiefs  into 
ambush  as  quickly  as  possible,"  and  ordered  the 
French  with  him  to  charge  down  the  hill  and 
strike  the  front  end  of  the  thin  line  of  the  red 
coats.  Away  they  all  scattered  to  their  places. 
The  savages  formed  along  the  hills  on  the  side 


CHARLESDELANGLADE  85 

and  the  French  charged  the  front.  The  English 
had  all  crossed  the  river,  but  had  not  completely 
formed  the  main  line.  Had  General  Braddock 
understood  the  Indian  and  French  backwoods 
method  of  fighting,  he  would  have  learned  some- 
thing from  all  the  advice  he  had  received  from 
the  most  experienced  bush-fighter  on  the  frontier. 
He  would  have  adopted  the  advice  of  young 
Washington,  which  he  so  imperiously  rejected. 
He  would  have  filled  the  woods  with  the  Provin- 
cials, Rangers  and  Indians  as  scouting  parties. 
But  he  caused  his  troops  to  march  forward 
through  the  level  and  those  in  the  lead  had  begun 
to  march  up  the  hill,  "as  if  in  review  in  St.  James 
Park." 

It  was  now  two  o'clock,  and  while  Charles  de 
Langlade  had  made  every  effort  to  bring  on  the 
engagement  at  the  ford,  the  English  were  now 
well  in  hand  to  withstand  any  attack  of  the 
French  if  they  had  been  under  the  proper  officer 
for  this  border  contest. 

De  Langlade  did  not  know  the  real  weakness  of 
the  English,  and  now  made  the  onslaught  from 
the  dense  woods  with  small  hope  of  success. 

His  savages  began  to  fire  as  soon  as  they  came 
near  enough  to  the  English  flank,  and  the  painted 
savages  swiftly  ran  through  the  forest,  keeping 
out  of  sight  and  covering  the  half  mile  of  the 
English  line,  filling  the  woods,  so  that  behind 
every  tree  was  a  sharp  shooter.  Every  savage 


86  CHARLES    DELANGLADE 

shot  to  kill.  Their  awful  war-whoop  rang-  out  on 
the  mountain  side.  The  fierce  savage  growl  of 
the  bear  came  from  the  Ottawa;  mingled  with 
the  blood  curdling  screech  of  the  Winnebago, 
imitating  the  panther  of  Wisconsin;  mingled  with 
the  venomous  cries  of  the  Menomonee;  the  treach- 
erous scream  of  the  Pottawattamies;  and  the 
long  wail  of  revenge  from  the  Wyandots. 

These  sounds  came  down  in  torrents  on  the  line 
of  grenadiers  as  if  the  woods  were  filled  with  all 
the  wild  beasts;  the  sounds  that  would  freeze  the 
blood  of  the  bravest  men.  The  English  fought 
as  best  they  could  in  their  narrow  lane.  Their 
fire  directed  at  the  woods  did  no  harm,  as  they 
could  discover  no  foe. 

Their  cannon,  directed  too  high,  shot  off  limbs 
of  trees,  which  falling  did  more  harm  to  the  lurk- 
ing savages  than  the  bullets  or  shot  of  the  red 
coats. 

De  Beaujeu  led  his  small  band  of  French  Cana- 
dians down  the  hill  with  a  yell  of  defiance  and 
triumph.  An  engineer,  out  in  advance  staking 
out  the  line  for  the  road  choppers,  looking  up, 
saw  a  man  in  buckskin  garments  bounding  down 
the  hill  in  advance.  He  was  followed  by  a  bor- 
derer throng  of  skull-capped,  moccasined,  merry 
rangers. 

Stopping  to  turn  about,  the  engineer  saw  de 
Beaujeu  swing  his  cap  in  the  air,  and  the  brave 
men  of  his  little  band  divided  and  hurried  down 


CHARLESDELANGLADE  87 

with  him.  They  fired  swift  and  sure,  never  miss- 
ing their  enemy  or  his  horse.  Th  e  brave  de  Beau  jeu 
soon  fell  in  the  front,  mortally  wounded.  The 
next  in  rank,  Dumas,  took  command.  But  these 
men  had  only  to  shoot  down  the  enemy  in  the 
open,  while  they  were  ranged  behind  trees  and 
fallen  logs.  De  Langlade  rushed  everywhere,  in- 
spiring his  savages  to  keep  up  to  the  front  and 
follow  every  advantage,  not  to  waste  powder, 
nor  miss  a  shot.  The  shooting,  the  yelling,  the 
war-whoop,  the  confusion,  would  strike  terror  to 
the  bravest  heart.  General  Braddock  was  about 
to  follow  with  the  main  body  and  had  given  the 
word  to  march,  when  he  heard  the  first  firing  in 
the  front,  as  the  Winnebago  swung  into  line  on 
the  right  flank. 

Washington,  who  was  with  the  General  sur- 
mised the  evil  apprehended,  had  at  last  come  to 
pass.  Braddock  ordered  Colonel  Burton  to  hasten 
to  the  assistance  of  the  vanguard  with  eight  hun- 
dred men.  The  residue  of  four  hundred  were 
posted  near  the  river  bank  to  protect  the  artillery 
and  baggage. 

"The  firing  continued  with  fearful  yelling. 
There  was  a  terrible  uproar."  The  General  find- 
ing the  turmoil  increased,  spurred  forward.  After 
de  Beaujeu  fell,  at  the  third  volley,  the  greater 
part  of  the  Canadian  militia  gave  way  in  confu- 
sion and  abandoned  the  field,  but  the  savages 
with  their  unearthly  screeching  continued  to 


88  CHARLES    DE    LANGLADE 

send  from  the  trees  a  murderous  fire.  The  Indian 
rifle  was  leveled  by  unseen  hands,  but  directed 
by  the  clear,  cool  brain  of  Charles  de  Langlade. 
The  grenadiers  were  falling  like  autumn  leaves. 
They  were  cut  down  without  a  chance  of  fighting, 
slaughtered  like  pigeons.  Most  of  the  grenadiers 
and  most  of  the  pioneers  were  shot  down  on  the 
advance  of  Burton's  men.  Colonel  Gage  ordered 
his  men  to  fix  bayonets  and  form  in  line  of  battle, 
they  did  so  in  hurry  and  trepidation,  but  no 
amount  of  urging  could  induce  them  to  scale  the 
hillside  forest,  on  the  right,  where  the  savage 
yell  and  constant  crack  of  the  rifle  pointed  the 
way  to  the  enemy.  The  demoniac  screeching  and 
puffs  of  smoke  marked  the  site  of  the  most  numer- 
ous attacking  party.  The  English  fired  where 
they  saw  the  smoke,  but  their  shot  only  lost  itself 
in  some  moss  clad  tree  of  the  forest.  The  officers 
in  vain  tried  to  restrain  their  fire  until  they  beat 
up  the  bush  and  saw  the  foe.  Their  orders  were 
unheeded.  In  their  fright  and  desperation  they 
shot  at  random,  killing  their  own  men  as  they 
came  running  past  to  get  into  the  fight.  "The 
covert  fire  grew  more  intense"  as  the  savages 
rushed  to  the  line,  adding  more  guns  to  those 
now  rapidly  filling  the  ground  with  fallen  Eng- 
lish. Colonel  Gage  was  wounded.  The  advance 
fell  back  on  Sir  John  St.  Glair's  Corps,  which 
was  equally  dismayed.  The  smoke,  the  savage 
war-whoop,  the  sharp  rapidity  of  the  unerring 


CHARLESDELANGLADE  89 

rifle,  quickened  the  carnage,  as  the  French  a  few 
Canadians  and  savages  saw  a  partial  success  of 
their  ambush.  De  Langlade  ran  up  and  down,  cheer- 
ing his  men,  calling  to  them  to  keep  it  up  thick 
and  fast,  to  yell,  to  shoot,  shoot  and  yell,  they 
had  them  on  the  run.  The  ground  was  covered 
with  dead  and  wounded  English,  dead  horses  and 
abandoned  cannons.  As  the  English  surged  back 
on  to  each  other,  the  quick  witted  savages  moved 
sideways  toward  the  river  also,  but  never  ceased 
to  yell  and  fire.  The  cannon  was  deserted.  Col- 
onel Burton  came  up  with  reinforcements  and  was 
forming  to  face  his  men  up  the  hill  on  the  right, 
when  the  survivors  of  both  the  advance  detach- 
ments fell  back  upon  him,  and  all  was  confusion. 

General  Braddock  was  now  in  the  thick  of  the 
battle.  He  tried  to  rally  his  men.  The  colors 
were  advanced  to  different  places  to  separate  the 
regiments.  The  officers  were  ordered  to  form  the 
men  in  small  divisions  and  advance  with  them; 
but  the  soldiers  could  not  be  prevailed  upon, 
either  by  threats  or  entreaties,  to  face  that  awful 
hell  of  pandemonium  broke  loose  in  the  dark 
woods. 

The  Virginian  troops  accustomed  to  the  Indian 
mode  of  fighting  scattered  themselves  behind 
trees,  whence  they  could  pick  off  the  lurking  foe, 
and  in  this  way  gave  some  small  protection  to 
the  regulars.  Washington  told  Braddock  to 
order  his  men  behind  trees,  but  he  persisted  in 


90  CHARLES    DE    LANGLADE 

forming  them  in  platoons,  as  if  fated  for  slaughter, 
and  they  were  cut  down  by  their  concealed  foe  as 
fast  as  they  advanced.  Some  took  to  the  trees 
without  orders  but  the  general  stormed  at  them, 
called  them  cowards  and  even  struck  them  with 
the  flat  of  his  sword.  Several  of  the  Virginians 
who  had  taken  post  behind  the  trees  were  killed 
by  the  regulars,  who  fired  wherever  they  saw 
smoke  behind  a  tree.  The  British  officers  and 
men  behaved  bravely,  "exposing  themselves  to 
imminent  death,  with  a  courage  that  kindled 
with  the  thickening  horrors."  They  would  dash 
forward  singly  or  in  groups  in  the  vain  hope  of 
recovering  abandoned  cannon.  They  were  shot 
down  by  the  forest  bred  sharpshooters  of  de 
Langlade.  The  Indians  aimed  at  every  one  on 
horseback,  or  who  appeared  to  command.  Many 
were  killed  by  their  own  men  in  the  conflict. 
Those  in  front  were  shot  by  those  in  the  rear. 
Between  the  friend  and  foe,  the  slaughter  of  the 
officers  was  terrible. 

"All  this  time  the  woods  rang  and  re-echoed 
with  the  savage  war-whoop,  unearthly  yells. 
Now  and  then  one  of  them,  hideously  painted, 
half  naked  and  ruffled  with  eagle  feathers,  would 
rush  from  covert,  scalp  an  officer  and  disappear 
as  swiftly  as  he  came,"  says  Irving.  "I  cannot 
describe  the  horror  of  that  scene,  no  pen  can  do 
it.  The  yell  of  the  Indians  is  fresh  in  my  ears, 
and  the  terrific  sound  will  haunt  me  till  the  hour  of 


CHARLES    DELANGLADE  91 

my  death, "  wrote  one  of  Braddock's  officers,  three 
weeks  after. 

The  brave  Washington,  though  very  weak  from 
long  fever,  was  early  in  the  fight,  left  by  the  fall 
of  Orme  and  Morris,  the  brother  aids,  the  only 
aid  of  Braddock,  with  the  whole  duty  of  carrying 
the  general's  orders.  His  danger  was  incessant. 
He  was  in  every  part  of  the  field,  a  mark  for  the 
murderous  rifle.  Two  horses  were  shot  under 
him.  Pour  bullets  passed  through  his  coat,  but 
he  escaped  without  a  wound.  At  one  time  he  was 
sent  to  the  main  body  to  bring  the  artillery  into 
action.  All  there  was  confusion  and  the  Indians 
extended  along  the  flank,  protected  by  a  slight 
ravine  covered  by  bush  and  trees  from  which  they 
pointed  their  death  dealing  fire  into  the  ranks. 

Sir  Peter  Halket  was  shot  down  at  the  head  of 
his  regiment.  The  men  who  should  have  served 
the  guns  were  paralyzed.  Had  they  even  raked 
the  ravines  and  woods  with  grape  shot,  with  the 
guns  properly  trained,  the  battle  might  have  been 
won.  In  his  ardor  Washington  sprang  from  his 
horse,  wheeled  and  pointed  a  brass  cannon  him- 
self and  directed  an  effective  charge  into  the 
woods;  but  neither  his  efforts  nor  example  availed 
to  restore  the  confidence  of  the  terrorized  regu- 
lars. They  would  not  move  the  guns.  Braddock 
still  remained  in  the  center  of  the  field  in  the  des- 
perate hope  of  saving  the  day.  The  Virginia 
rangers,  who  had  been  most  effective  in  covering 


92  CHARLESDELANGLADE 

his  position,  had  been  mostly  killed  or  wounded. 
His  secretary,  Shirley,  had  fallen  by  his  side, 
most  of  his  officers  had  been  slain  within  his 
sight.  Five  horses  had  been  killed  under  Brad- 
dock,  still  he  remained  trying-  to  check  the  flight 
of  the  grenadiers  or  effect  their  retreat  in  order. 

At  length  a  bullet  passed  through  bis  right  arm 
and  lodged  in  his  lungs.  He  fell  from  his  horse, 
but  was  caught  by  Captain  Stewart,  of  the  Vir- 
ginia guards,  and  placed  in  a  tumbril.  With 
much  difficulty  they  moved  him  out  of  the  field. 
In  his  despair  he  asked  them  to  leave  him. 

The  rout  was  now  complete.  The  wounded, 
Braddock's  papers,  the  military  chest,  baggage, 
stores  and  artillery  which  was  so  laboriously 
dragged  over  the  mountains  for  these  many  long 
days,  was  all  abandoned.  The  wagoners  took 
each  a  horse  out  of  his  team  and  fled.  The  re- 
maining officers  were  swept  off  the  field  in  the 
headlong  flight  of  terrified  men,  rendered  more 
precipitous  by  the  awful  yell  of  triumph  of  de 
Langlade's  savages  as  they  began  to  pour  into 
the  open,  pursuing  the  fugitives  to  the  river  side, 
killing  and  scalping,  as  the  insanely  terrified 
British  dashed  in  a  jam  of  confusion  into  the  water. 
Fortunately  for  the  survivors,  de  Langlade  was 
not  aware  of  the  completeness  of  the  defeat  or 
scarcely  a  man  would  have  survived  to  tell  the 
tale  of  dishonor. 


CHARLES DELANGLADE  93 

The  shattered  army  continued  its  flight,  after 
crossing,  a  wretched  wreck  of  the  brilliant  force 
that  a  few  hours  before  gleamed  along  its  banks. 
Out  of  eighty-six  officers,  twenty-six  were  killed 
and  thirty-six  wounded.  Of  the  rank  and  file  up- 
wards of  seven  hundred  were  killed.  Some  com- 
panies had  been  entirely  annihilated.  One  com- 
pany had  lost  all  its  officers  even  to  the  corporal. 
The  battle  lasted  about  three  hours. 

One  small  faithful  band  still  remained  a  gleam 
of  hope.  They  were  a  hundred  brave  fellows,  a 
quarter  of  a  mile  from  the  ford.  Here  was  Brad- 
dock  with  his  wounded  aids  and  some  other 
wounded  officers.  Dr.  Craik  was  attending  the 
brave  old  veteran  general  who  was  still  giving 
orders.  Washington  was  there  doing  what  he 
could  to  restore  order.  It  might  have  been  a 
rally  point  for  a  last  stand,  if  fright  had  not  so 
thoroughly  demoralized  the  men.  Colonel  Burton 
was  there,  and  posted  out  sentinels.  But  none 
came  to  their  aid,  and  within  an  hour  most  of 
those  who  remained  had  stolen  away. 

Being  thus  deserted,  Braddock  and  his  party 
took  up  their  flight  with  the  rest.  They  were 
subsequently  joined  by  Colonel  Gage  with  eighty 
men,  whom  he  had  rallied.  Washington  was  sent 
to  Colonel  Dunbar's  camp  to  hurry  forward  pro- 
visions and  hospital  stores,  but  terror  had  seized 
the  camp  as  tidings  of  the  defeat  was  brought  in 
by  fugitives  on  horseback  from  the  fatal  field, 


94  CHARLESDELANGLADE 

crying:  "All  is  lost.  Braddock  is  killed.  The 
troops  were  all  cut  to  pieces."  Panic  fell  on  this 
camp.  The  drums  beat  to  arms.  Many  took  to 
flight,  some  were  forced  back  by  the  sentinels. 
Washington  secured  the  supplies  and  escort. 
On  his  return,  at  thirty  miles,  he  met  Gage  es- 
corting General  Braddock  and  his  wounded  offi- 
cers. Captain  Stewart  and  a  small  remnant  of 
surviving  Virginian  guards  still  remained  with 
their  general. 

There  was  a  halt  of  one  day  at  Dunbar's  camp 
for  the  repose  of  the  wounded.  On  the  13th,  they 
resumed  their  march  and  that  night  reached  the 
"Great  Meadows. "  Braddock  only  said,  "Who 
would  have  thought  it."  It  is  said  he  admitted 
to  Washington  he  should  have  taken  his  advice 
to  scout  the  woods.  Here  he  died  near  Port 
Necessity,  and  was  buried  before  break  of  day, 
five  days  after  this  historic  defeat.  He  was  re- 
proached for  the  failure  of  the  magnificent  expe- 
dition by  "his  obstinacy,  his  technical  pedantry 
and  military  conceit,"  yet  his  conduct  on  that 
fatal  day  proved  him  to  have  been  a  man  of  fear- 
less spirit. 

Dunbar  arrived  at  Fort  Cumberland  with  the 
remnant  of  the  army,  but  terrorstricken  he  left  a 
few  guards  for  the  wounded  and  continued  his 
flight  to  the  settlements,  leaving  the  whole  fron- 
tier exposed.  "The  affair  of  Braddock  remains 
a  memorable  event  in  American  history,  and  has 


CHARLES    DELANGLADE  95 

been  characterized  as  the  most  extraordinary  vic- 
tory ever  obtained  and  furtherest  flight  ever 
made." 

It  struck  a  fatal  blow  to  deference  for  British 
prowess,  and  was,  says  Franklin,  the  first  suspi- 
cion that  our  exalted  ideas  of  the  prowess  of 
British  regulars  had  not  been  well  founded. 

Now  to  return  to  the  bloody  field.  As  the  English 
were  beaten  back  and  made  their  precipitate  and 
disordered  flight,  the  French  with  de  Langlade's 
savages  pursued  them,  but  not  expecting  such  a 
complete  rout  and  fearing  to  be  drawn,  themselves, 
into  an  ambuscade,  they  retraced  their  steps. 
The  French  had  not  lost  thirty  men.  By  the 
French  accounts  it  is  recorded  that  the  English 
lost  as  counted  by  them,  six  hundred  dead  on  the 
field  of  battle,  four  hundred  on  the  retreat  and 
three  hundred  along  a  small  stream.  Their 
wounded  were  abandoned  and  all  their  baggage, 
powder,  ball  and  artillery;  and  most  of  their 
horses,  some  of  which  became  the  ancestors  of 
the  wild  horses  of  the  plains. 

De  Langlade  exerted  his  great  influence  to  keep 
the  savages  from  killing  with  their  tomahawks 
and  spears  the  wounded  redcoats,  but  despite  all 
his  efforts  many  of  the  poor  fellows  were  dis- 
patched and  scalped.  His  first  care  after  the 
battle  was  won,  was  to  give  orders  for  a  careful 
search  of  the  baggage  and  destroy  all  the  liquors 
of  which  there  was  great  quantity,  to  prevent  it 


96  CHARLES    DE    LANGLADE 

falling  into  the  hands  of  the  savages.  The  sav- 
ages had  a  vast  amount  of  booty.  They  put  on 
the  hats  and  coats  of  the  grenadiers  and  all  of 
them  secured  good  guns.  The  French  and  Cana- 
dians secured  sums  of  money  and  gold  and  silver. 
It  is  said  the  surprise  was  so  complete  that  a 
number  of  the  dead  officers  were  found  with  nap- 
kins on  their  necks  as  having  been  frightened 
from  their  noon  meal  by  the  sudden  attack. 
After  sacking  the  baggage  and  obtaining  all  the 
booty  they  could  carry  away,  de  Langlade  led  his 
Indian  contingent  into  a  safe  place  for  the  camp. 

In  the  search  for  plunder  by  the  French  who 
followed  Charles  de  Langlade,  one  La  Choisie,  a 
young  man  of  much  enterprise  and  promise,  dis- 
covered the  body  of  an  English  officer  richly 
dressed;  and  one  Phillip  de  Rocheblave  saw  it 
almost  at  the  same  moment;  but  La  Choisie  man- 
aged to  secure  his  well  filled  purse.  His  com- 
panion claimed  part  of  the  prize,  and  they  parted 
in  anger.  The  next  morning  young  La  Choisie 
was  found  assassinated,  and  his  purse  of  gold  was 
missing.  It  was  strongly  suspected  at  the  time 
who  did  the  murderous  deed. 

Pouchot,  an  officer  of  the  French,  said:  "The 
battle  of  Monongahela  was  the  fiercest  and  most 
glorious  in  which  savages  ever  engaged,  and  to 
them  we  ought  to  give  the  glory  of  it  owing  to 
their  unerring  aim. ' '  De  Peyster  refers  to  de  Lang- 
lade as  the  "French  officer  who  had  been  instru- 


CHARLES    DELANGLADE  97 

mental  in  defeating  General  Braddock. "  Colonel 
Thomas  Auburey,  an  officer  under  General  Bur- 
goyne  in  1777,  refers  to  de  Langlade  as  '  'the  person 
who  at  the  head  of  the  tribe  which  he  now  com- 
mands, planned  and  executed  the  defeat  of  Gen- 
eral Braddock. ' '  General  Burgoyne  himself  says : 
"And  of  M.  de  Langlade  the  very  man  who  with 
these  tribes  projected  and  executed  Braddock's 
defeat." 

We  repeat  these  remarks  as  explaining  the 
general  understanding  among  the  British  and 
French  army  as  to  who  was  the  real  hero  of  the 
famous  historic  battle.  The  officers  in  higher 
command  often  have  the  credit,  where  the  real 
hero  of  lower  rank  is  not  mentioned. 

It  was  here  on  this  bloody  field  that  the  tribes 
gave  their  dauntless  leader  the  title  which  he 
bore  ever  after,  "Ake  wauge  ketausa, "  or  "Mil- 
itary Conquerer. "  The  literal  translation  of  the 
Indian  words  are,  "He  who  is  fierce  for  the 
land."  This  Indian  talk  has  also  been  spelled, 
"Au  ke  win  ge  ke  tau  so,"  or  "Defender  of  his 
country. ' ' 

But  the  name  by  which  he  was  always  known 
after  this  battle  by  the  Menomonee  was,  "Brav- 
est of  the  Brave." 

Parkman  says  of  the  close  of  the  battle:  "Dumas 
and  Ligneris,  who  had  now  only  about  twenty 
French  men  with  them,  made  no  attempt  to  pur- 
sue and  went  back  to  the  fort,  because,  says  Con- 


98  CHARLES    DE    LANGLADE 

trecoeur,  so  many  of  the  Canadians,  had  retired 
at  the  first  fire.  The  field  .abandoned  to  the 
savages,  was  a  pandemonium  of  pillage  and  mur- 
der."  And  in  another  place  he  says:  "Whatever 
may  have  been  the  conduct  of  the  Canadian  mili- 
tia, the  French  officers  behaved  with  the  utmost 
courage,  and  shared  with  the  Indians  the  honor  of 
victory.  The  partisan  chief,  Charles  de  Langlade, 
seems  also  to  have  been  especially  prominent. " 

Back  in  the  fort,  James  Smith,  the  young  pris- 
oner mentioned  before,  and  who  afterward 
wrote  a  narrative  of  his  experience,  had  waited 
with  anxiety  all  day  the  result  of  the  battle.  He 
says :  '  'In  the  afternoon ,  I  again  observed  a  great 
noise  and  commotion  in  the  fort,  and,  though  at 
that  time  I  could  not  understand  French,  I  found 
it  was  the  voice  of  joy  and  triumph,  and  feared 
that  they  had  received  what  I  called  bad  news. 
I  had  observed  some  of  the  old  country  soldiers 
speak  Dutch;  as  I  spoke  Dutch,  I  went  to  one  of 
them  and  asked  him  what  was  the  news.  He  told 
me  that  a  runner  had  just  arrived  who  said  that 
Braddock  would  certainly  be  defeated;  that  the 
Indians  and  French  had  surrounded  him,  and 
were  concealed  behind  trees  and  in  gullies,  and 
kept  a  constant  fire  upon  the  English;  and  if  they 
did  not  take  to  the  river,  which  was  the  only  gap, 
and  make  their  escape,  there  would  not  be  one 
man  alive  before  sun  down.  Some  time  after  this, 
I  heard  a  number  of  scalp  halloos,  and  saw  a  com- 


CHARLES DELANGLADE  99 

pany  of  Indians  and  French  coming  in.  I  ob- 
served they  had  a  great  number  of  bloody  scalps, 
grenadier's  caps,  British  canteens,  bayonets,  etc. 
with  them.  They  brought  the  news  that  Brad- 
dock  was  defeated.  After  that  another  company 
came  in,  which  appeared  to  be  about  one  hundred, 
and  chiefly  Indians;  and  it  seemed  to  me  that 
almost  every  one  of  this  company  was  carrying 
scalps.  After  this  came  another  company  with 
a  number  of  wagon-horses,  and  also  a  great  many 
scalps.  Those  who  were  coming  in  and  those 
who  had  arrived,  kept  a  constant  firing  of  small 
arms,  and  also  the  great  guns  in  the  fort,  which 
were  accompanied  with  the  most  hideous  shouts 
and  yells  from  all  quarters  so  that  it  appeared  to 
me  as  though  the  infernal  regions  had  broke 
loose.  About  sun  down,  I  beheld  a  small  party 
coming  in  with  about  a  dozen  prisoners,  stripped 
naked,  with  their  hands  tied  behind  their  backs, 
and  their  faces  and  part  of  their  bodies  blacked; 
these  prisoners  they  burned  to  death  on  the  bank 
of  Allegheny  River,  opposite  to  the  fort.  I  stood 
on  the  fort  wall  until  I  beheld  them  begin  to  burn 
one  of  these  men;  they  had  him  tied  to  a  stake, 
and  kept  touching  him  with  firebrands,  red  hot 
irons,  etc.,  and  he  screaming  in  a  most  doleful 
manner,  the  Indians  in  the  meantime  yelling  like 
infernal  spirits.  As  this  scene  appeared  too 
shocking  for  me  to  behold,  I  returned  to  my  lodg- 
ing, both  sore  and  sorry." 


100  CHARLES    DELANGLADE 

Among  the  French,  three  officers  were  killed 
and  four  wounded;  all  but  four  of  the  regular  sol- 
diers escaped  unharmed.  Only  five  Canadians 
were  hurt.  "The  Indians  who  won  the  victory 
bore  the  principal  loss,"  says  Parkman.  The 
Canadian  Indians  lost  twenty-seven  killed.  No 
report  of  loss  is  made  for  the  western  tribes.  All 
these  latter  left  for  home  the  next  day,  leaving 
the  commandant  to  fear  the  English  might  recover 
and  attack  his  small  force,  so  little  did  he  know 
of  the  completeness  of  the  route  of  Braddock's 
proud  array. 


IX 


1756.  APPOINTED  COMMANDANT  OF  GRAND  RIVER. 
IS  MADE  ENSIGN  OF  INFANTRY.  STATIONED  AT 
DUQUESNE.  ORDERED  ON  A  SCOUT  TO  FORT 
CUMBERLAND,  LANGLADE  ATTEMPTS  THE  CAP- 
TURE OF  AN  ENGLISH  PAYMASTER'S  MONEY 
CHEST. 

CHARLES  DE  LANGLADE,  having  learned 
of  the  completeness  of  his  victory,  and  sat- 
isfied the  fort  was  safe,  for  that  year  at 
least,  dismissed  his  tribes  to  their  forest  villages, 
and  hurried  home  to  the  more  quiet  banks  of  the 
Fox  River,  to  his  young  wife,  whose  society  he 
had  enjoyed  but  a  few  days,  when  called  to  the 
defense  of  his  beloved  country.  After  enjoying 
the  leisure  of  the  few  warm  months  of  summer, 
and  recounting  the  story  of  the  wonderful  battle, 
he  was  in  the  fall  called  into  duty  again.  Captain 
Herbin  was  still  in  command  at  Old  Mackinaw. 
He  made  out  a  written  order  by  which  he  appoin- 
ted Charles  de  Langlade  as  commander  of  the 
post  at  Gabagouache  (now  Grand  Haven)  on  the 
Grand  River,  Michigan,  with  command  of  the 
whole  of  Grand  River  and  dependency;  and  or- 
dered to  locate  his  establishment  at  the  place 
called  Gabagouache.  By  this  command  he  was 
placed  in  charge  of  all  the  traders  and  their  men, 
with  absolute  authority  over  everyone  in  the 


102  CHARLES    DELANGLADE 

territory;  and  a  judge  in  their  disputes.  He  was 
also  instructed  to  have  a  care  for  the  Indians,  as 
they  would  be  wanted  in  the  spring  in  the  pend- 
ing war.  Also  to  keep  the  hired  men  from  leav- 
ing his  country,  as  they  would  be  wanted  in  the 
spring  for  the  same  service. 

We  suppose  he  moved  his  family  to  his  winter 
quarters  on  the  Grand  River.  As  he  was  per- 
mitted, in  his  service,  to  trade  with  the  savages, 
he  also  took  over  an  ample  supply  of  Indian 
goods,  for  traffic  with  'the  savages.  The  early 
fall  was  devoted  to  preparations  for  winter.  The 
log  cabins  were  repaired  and  the  spaces  between 
the  logs  filled  with  clay  and  earth  heaped  against 
the  base  of  the  cabins,  to  keep  out  the  cold  of  the 
winter.  The  Grand  River  and  its  tributaries  ran 
through  vast  pine  forests  filled  with  game.  Among 
the  wild  animals  were  the  black  and  cinnamon 
bear,  the  moose,  deer,  wolf  and  fox.  Along  the 
streams  were  the  beaver  and  otter.  Doubtless  he 
obtained  a  splendid  commerce  and  a  rich  cargo 
of  furs. 

In  January  their  daughter,  Charlotte  Catharine, 
was  born  here  at  Grand  River,  and  Father  M.  L. 
Le  Franc  journeyed  hither  on  snow  shoes  to  pri- 
vately baptize  the  infant. 

In  the  spring  (1756)  they  all  returned  to  their 
home  again  as  winter  is  the  hunter's  season. 
Furs  taken  in  summer  are  of  no  value.  These 
savages  all  return  to  their  villages  in  the  spring 


CHARLES    DELANGLADE  103 

to  plant  their  corn  and  tobacco.  It  is  quite  pos- 
sible that  de  Langlade  was  ordered  early  in  the 
season  to  report  at  Fort  Duquesne  with  the 
French  Canadians  of  the  upper  country.  He  had 
now  been  made  an  ensign  of  infantry  in  the  Can- 
adian service.  We  suppose  for  gallantry  in  the 
famous  "Brad dock  defeat." 

Dumais  was  now  in  command  of  the  Fort  Du- 
quesne. August  9, 1756,  Captain  Dumais  issued  the 
following  order  to  Ensign  Charles  de  Langlade: 

"Dumais,  Knight  of  the  Royal  and  Military 
Order  of  St.  Louis,  Captain  of  Infantry,  Com- 
mander of  the  Belle  Riviere  (Ohio  River)  and  its 
dependencies:  It  is  ordered  to  Sieur  Langlade, 
Ensign  of  Infantry,  to  set  out  at  the  head  of  a 
detachment  of  French  and  Indians,  to  strike  Fort 
Cumberland.  In  case  the  Indians  determined  to 
leave  the  main  route,  Sieur  de  Langlade  will  de- 
tach a  few  reserves  with  a  company  of  French,  to 
follow  them.  The  principal  object  of  his  mission 
being  to  ascertain  if  the  enemy  is  inaugurating 
any  movement  in  this  quarter. 

"He  will  march  with  precaution  and  watchful- 
ness in  order  to  avoid  all  surprise  and  ambuscade. 
If  he  attacks  with  the  Indians  he  must  do  all  in 
his  power  to  prevent  them  from  inflicting  any 
cruelties  upon  those  who  may  fall  into  his  hands." 

"Written  at  Fort  Duquesne,  Aug.  9,  1756." 

On  this  mission  he  led  his  small  company 
quickly  and  cautiously  over  the  same  route  by 


104  CHARLESDELANGLADE 

which  the  English  had  approached  from  Fort 
Cumberland.  Having-  obtained  the  information 
he  quickly  returned.  The  journey  would  not 
have  taken  more  than  a  week.  He  found  that 
the  English  did  not  intend  any  attack  on  the  fort 
that  season.  He  was  now  regularly  stationed  at 
Fort  Duquesne. 

During  the  winter  he  was  dispatched  on  a  simi- 
lar mission  to  Fort  Cumberland  to  obtain  infor- 
mation of  the  intention  of  the  English.  He  was 
ordered  to  endeavor  to  capture  some  soldier  who 
would  give  him  information.  He  led  a  small 
party  of  French  and  Indians.  In  some  manner  a 
small  dog  belonging  to  the  Post  followed  them. 
They  succeeded  in  approaching  close  to  Fort 
Cumberland  and  coming  on  to  a  sentinel,  at  night, 
made  him  prisoner.  From  this  prisoner,  de 
Langlade  learned  that  an  English  officer  in  the 
paymaster's  service  was  expected  that  night, 
with  a  chest  of  gold,  to  pay  the  soldiers  and  for 
military  expense  account.  He  ordered  his  party 
down  the  road  toward  Williamsburg.  At  a  point 
in  the  road,  lined  with  trees,  the  French  and 
Indians  secreted  themselves  under  cover  of  the 
trees,  on  one  side  of  the  road,  and  waited  in  am- 
bush, the  coming  of  the  English  party.  De  Lang- 
lade  with  a  few  Indians  and  an  officer  were  sta- 
tioned further  down  the  road.  The  moon  was 
high  and  the  snow  on  the  ground  made  it  light 
enough  to  see.  Soon  the  mounted  guard  was 


FRONTIER  TRUNK 

Or  traveling  pouch  of  de  Langlade,  used  for  trader  papers  and  traveler  outfit ;  made 

of  buckskin,  ornamented  with  colored  porcupine  Quills,  made  by  a  Pani  slave, 

and  now  owned  by  the  Wisconsin  Historical  Society  at  Madison. 


CHARLES    DELANGLADE  105 

heard  trotting-  up  the  road.  De  Langlade  per- 
mitted them  to  pass,  to  be  taken  by  the  ambush 
further  up  the  road.  As  soon  as  the  horses 
and  sleigh,  with  the  precious  gold  came  up, 
de  Langlade  and  a  French  officer,  sprang  at  the 
head  of  the  horses.  Just  at  this  inopportune 
moment,  the  dog  gave  a  yelp,  which  alarmed 
the  watchful  British  paymaster,  who  suddenly 
wheeled  his  horses  about,  almost  upsetting  the 
sleigh  and  began  a  swift  return,  lashing  the 
horses  into  a  gallop;  but  de  Langlade  had  caught 
the  rear  of  the  sleigh  and  mounted  behind  the 
officer.  Now  began  a  fight  for  life,  to  gain  the 
mastery  with  the  team  under  swift  motion,  and 
the  sleigh  bounding  and  swaying  over  the  rough 
road.  The  Englishman  drew  his  pistol  on  de 
Langlade,  but  it  missed  fire,  and  after  a  sharp 
tussel,  de  Langlade  snatched  the  weapon  from 
the  paymaster.  But  the  Englishman  was  a  game 
fighter,  and  with  his  whip,  alternately  thrashed 
de  Langlade  about  the  face,  and  his  horses  about 
their  flanks.  De  Langlade  swayed  about  in  the 
sleigh,  and  used  his  best  endeavors  to  get  hold  of 
the  enemy,  who  kept  up  a  swift  lashing  with  the 
whip,  cutting  him  about  the  face  and  head.  At 
last  partly  blinded  and  the  swaying  sleigh  flying 
with  the  maddened  horses,  finally  threw  him  from 
his  balance,  and  out  into  the  snow.  He  lost  his 
prize,  but  carried  away  the  pistol  as  the  only 
trophy  of  the  fierce  encounter.  It  would  have 


106 


CHARLES    DE    LANGLADE 


been  very  laughable,  if  not  so  serious.  The 
mounted  guards  were  captured.  De  Langlade 
often  related  this  fight  in  the  sleigh  with  great 
glee,  and  frequently  met  the  English  officer  in 
Canada  after  the  war,  when  it  was  a  source  of 
much  merriment  between  them. 


X 


1757.  DE  LANGLADE  DISCOVERS  COLONEL  PARKER 
OUT  WITH  A  SCOUTING  PARTY  ON  LAKE  GEORGE; 
AMBUSHED  THEM  WITH  THE  OTTAWA,  AND  CAP- 
TURED MANY  PRISONERS.  ASSISTS  IN  THE  CAP- 
TURE OF  FORT  WILLIAM  HENRY.  PROMOTED  TO 
SECOND  IN  COMMAND  AT  OLD  MACKINAW. 

THE  English  in  the  campaign  of  1756,  had 
much  the  worst  of  it.  Lord  Loudon  was 
commander-in-chief  and  Governor  of  Vir- 
ginia. Marquis  de  Montcalm  was  made  com- 
mander of  the  French  troops  in  Canada.  Taking 
advantage  of  the  weakness  of  Oswego,  then  a 
post  far  out  on  the  frontier,  difficult  of  access  by 
the  English,  Montcalm  took  his  forces  over  Lake 
Ontario  and  landing  near  the  forts  soon  reduced 
them,  and  compelled  the  garrison  to  surrender. 
This  was  a  severe  blow  to  the  English. 

When  the  season  of  1757  opened,  Lord  Loudon, 
who  had  determined  to  proceed  against  Louis- 
burg,  sailed  away  with  six  thousand  English 
troops  and  colonists.  The  enterprise  was  aban- 
doned without  an  effort  to  assault,  and  when  his 
lordship  returned  to  New  York  in  August,  he  was 
much  chagrined  to  learn  of  defeats  and  disgrace 
on  the  Northern  frontier. 

Montcalm,  supposing  the  Louisburg  expedition 
was  directed  at  Quebec  had  prepared  to  defend 


108  CHARLESDELANGLADE 

that  stronghold,  but  as  soon  as  it  was  certain 
that  its  destination  was  for  other  parts,  then 
Montcalm  commenced  his  preparations  for  an 
attack  on  Fort  William  Henry  at  the  head  of 
Lake  George.  The  forces  were  gathering  at 
Ticonderoga  in  July.  They  were  Canadian  mi- 
litia and  soldiers,  and  Royal  Batallions,  as  well 
as  savages. 

To  interest  the  Indians  of  the  missions  of  Two 
Mountains  and  Caughnawaga  or  Saut  St.  Louis, 
M.  de  Montcalm  went  himself  and  sung  the  war 
song.  One  of  Montcalm 's  officers,  Bougainville 
has  described  these  Indian  allies,  of  which  there 
were  nearly  two  thousand.  One  of  these  tribes, 
the  Iowa  from  the  far  off  western  plains,  spoke  a 
language  which  no  one  could  interpret,  and  they 
bivouacked  where  they  saw  fit,  being  so  inde- 
pendent, no  one  could  control  them.  To  him 
they  all  looked  alike.  They  go  naked,  except  a 
strip  of  cloth  through  a  belt,  and  paint  them- 
selves black,  red,  blue  and  other  colors.  Their 
heads  were  shaved  and  adorned  with  feathers  and 
they  wore  beaver  skin  blankets,  carry  lances, 
bows  and  arrows  with  a  quiver  made  of  skins. 
They  are  straight,  well  made  and  generally  very 
tall.  It  was  not  easy  to  keep  them  fed.  A  week's 
rations  would  be  consumed  in  three  days,  when 
they  asked  for  more.  At  one  time  they  seized 
eighteen  head  of  cattle  and  butchered  them. 
They  craved  strong  drink,  and  when  drunk  they 


CHARLES DELANGLADE  109 

often  tore  each  other  with  their  teeth  like 
wolves.  The  mission  Indians  behaved  better 
than  the  heathen  of  the  west.  They  were  armed 
with  guns  which  they  knew  how  to  use.  They 
dressed  better  and  were  not  cannibals.  Other- 
wise they  were  much  like  other  savages  in  feroc- 
ity. Roubaud,  the  Jesuit  Missionary  of  the  Abe- 
nakis  of  St.  Francis,  who  were  in  Montcalm's 
army,  says  that  they  are  adorned  with  ornaments, 
most  calculated  to  disfigure  them  in  European 
eyes,  and  painted  hideous  colors.  The  head  is 
shaved,  except  at  the  top,  to  which  is  fastened 
feathers,  beads  and  trinkets.  Pendants  hang 
from  the  nose  and  ears,  which  are  split  in  infancy 
and  drawn  down  by  weights  until  they  hang  on 
the  shoulders.  They  wear  a  shirt  painted  red,  a 
wampum  collar,  silver  bracelets,  a  large  knife 
hangs  on  their  breast,  moose  skin  moccasins  are 
on  their  feet,  and  they  have  a  belt  of  absurdly 
combined  colored  beads.  The  Sachems,  or  war 
chiefs,  have  the  King's  medals.  The  war  dance 
is  sung,  when  all  are  gathered  about  a  kettle  of 
stewing  meat,  the  chief  taking  the  lead,  tramps 
about  recounting  his  prowess  and  all  the  savages 
yelling  approval.  Others  follow  in  the  same 
strain,  closing  the  festival  by  all  eating  the  con- 
tents of  the  kettle. 

One  day  Roubaud  was  near  the  Port,  when  he 
saw  the  shore  lined  with  a  thousand  Indians, 
watching  a  war  party  return  with  some  English 


110  CHARLES    DELANGLADE 

prisoners.  They  began  to  yell  diabolically  and 
each  armed  with  a  club,  to  force  the  unhappy 
prisoners  to  "run  the  gauntlet,"  when  they  would 
probably  have  been  killed,  but  were  saved  by 
ransom  furnished  by  some  French  officers.  He 
met  the  the  same  day  troops  of  Indians,  leading 
English  prisoners  by  cords  about  their  necks  and 
the  sweat  was  starting  from  their  brows  in  the 
extremity  of  their  horror  and  distress.  The  identity 
of  Langlade,  in  this  large  body  of  officers,  men  and 
Indian  host,  was  lost  in  the  aggregate  movement, 
yet  in  one  affair  he  distinguished  himself. 

Three  hundred  provincials,  chiefly  of  New 
Jersey  men,  were  sent  out  from  Fort  William 
Henry  under  command  of  Colonel  Parker  to  re- 
connoitre the  French  outposts.  Charles  de 
Langlade  who  had  arrived  with  his  western  tribes 
early,  kept  them  constantly  employed  in  skulking 
about  the  English  works,  and  scouting  to  bring 
in  information.  They  had  brought  word  of  the 
progress  of  the  Colonel  Parker  party.  The 
Ottawa,  to  the  number  of  three  hundred  and 
thirty  seven,  were  sent  out  under  de  Langlade 
and  Corbiere,  with  five  other  officers,  to  attempt 
a  capture.  Montcalm  reports  the  occurrence  on 
July  25,  1757.  "The  Ottawa  that  I  have  sent  to 
the  lake  shore  had  conceived  the  project  of 
making  an  attack  on  the  English  barges  and  de 
Langlade"  with  four  other  French  officers  "were 
sent  with  them." 


CHARLESDELANGLADE  111 

"They  remained  in  ambush  all  day  yesterday, 
and  during"  the  night.  At  break  of  day  the  Eng- 
lish appeared  to  the  number  of  twenty-two  barges 
including  two  skiffs.  Their  detachment  number- 
ed three  hundred  and  fifty  men,  commanded  by 
Colonel  Parker,  who  was  at  the  head  of  the  Jersey 
regiment,  in  place  of  Colonel  Schyler  taken  pris- 
oner at  Oswego. " 

Parker  was  near  Sabath  Day  point,  and  had 
rashly  divided  his  force.  At  break  of  day  three 
of  his  boats  fell  into  the  snare  of  ambushed  Ind- 
dians  and  were  captured  without  a  shot.  Three 
others  followed  at  intervals,  ignorant  of  what 
had  happened,  and  were  captured.  When  the 
others  came  up  they  were  greeted  by  a  deadly 
volley  from  the  thicket,  and  a  swarm  of  canoes 
darted  out  upon  them.  The  men  were  seized 
with  such  a  panic,  Montcalm's  report  continues, 
"the  yells  of  our  savages  so  filled  them  with 
terror,  that  they  made  but  feeble  resistance." 
Some  of  them  jumped  into  the  water  to  escape, 
while  the  Indians  leaped  after  them  and  speared 
them  with  their  lances  like  fish.  "Terrified  by 
the  sight  of  the  monsters,  their  agility,  their  firing 
and  their  yells,  they  surrendered  without  resis- 
tance," says  Parkman. 

About  a  hundred  made  their  escape,  the  rest 
were  killed  or  captured  and,  "Three  of  the  bodies 
were  eaten  on  the  spot. ''  Bougainville,  the  jour- 
nalist of  this  expedition,  says  this  success  made 


112  CHARLESDELANGLADE 

the  Indians  insolent,  but  he  adds,  "here  in  the 
forest  of  America,  we  cannot  more  do  without 
them,  than  without  cavalry  on  the  plains."  All 
the  French  bred  officers  detested  them.  Mont- 
calm's  report  concludes:  "Only  two  barges  were 
saved,  all  the  rest  being  taken  or  sunk.  The 
Indians  brought  away  six,  which  will  be  very 
useful  to  us.  I  have  here  one  hundred  and  fifty- 
one  prisoners,  of  whom  eight  are  officers,  one 
hundred  and  sixty  were  killed,  drowned  or  put  to 
the  torture.  This  affair  cost  us  one  Indian  slightly 
wounded. " 

A  few  days  after  this  the  tent  of  Roubaud,  the 
missionary  to  the  Abenakis,  was  in  the  camp 
of  the  Ottawa  along  Lake  George.  He  presently 
saw  a  large  number  of  them  squatted  about  a 
fire,  before  which  meat  was  roasting  on  sticks 
stuck  in  the  ground,  and  approaching,  he  saw  it 
was  the  flesh  of  an  Englishman,  other  parts  of 
which  were  boiling  in  a  kettle,  while  near  by  sat 
a  dozen  English  prisoners  forced  to  see  their 
comrade  devoured.  The  horrorstricken  priest 
began  to  remonstrate,  on  which  a  young  savage 
replied  in  broken  French:  "You  have  French 
taste;  I  have  Indian.  This  is  good  meat  for  me." 
They  then  invited  him  to  the  feast.  If  force  had 
been  used  to  prevent  these  cruelties,  the  Indians 
would  have  gone  home  in  a  rage.  They  were  in- 
duced to  join  the  war  party  on  promise  of  plunder 
and  scalps.  They  were  left  to  finish  their  meal 


CHARLESDELANGLADE  113 

undisturbed.  Having  eaten  one  of  their  prisoners, 
they  began  to  treat  the  others  with  the  utmost 
kindness.  This  change  of  conduct  was  because 
they  were  a  valuable  commodity  for  which  they 
hoped  to  obtain  a  good  price  in  Montreal.  Mont- 
calm  finally  succeeded  in  recovering  them  from 
the  Ottawa,  and  after  furnishing  them  with  shoes 
and  blankets,  the  captives  were  sent  to  Montreal. 

The  army  gathered  at  Ticonderoga,  were  urged 
forward  to  Lake  George  with  all  haste  possible. 
Provisions,  camp  equipments,  ammunition,  can- 
non and  bateaux  or  open  scows,  were  dragged 
through  the  woods  and  over  the  hills  to  Lake 
George  and  embarked  by  the  end  of  July. 

Montcalm  called  his  Indian  allies  to  a  grand 
council,  in  which  forty-one  tribes  and  sub-tribes 
were  represented. 

These  were  the  mission  savages;  Iroquois  of 
Caughnawaga,  Two  Mountains,  and  La  Presenta- 
tion; Hurons  of  Lorette  and  Detroit;  Nipissings 
of  Lake  Nipissing.  Abenakis  of  St.  Francis, 
Becancour,  Missisiqui,  and  the  Pemoboscott; 
Algonkins  of  Three  Rivers  and  Two  Mountains; 
Micmac  and  Malecites  from  Acadia;  in  all  eight 
hundred  chiefs  and  warriors.  With  these  came 
the  heathen  tribes  of  the  west,  Ottawa  of  seven 
distinct  bands;  Ojibwas  of  Lake  Superior;  and 
Mississaugaes  from  the  region  of  Lakes  Erie  and 
Huron;  Pottawattamies  from  south-east  shore 
Lake  Michigan;  the  Menomonee  from  opposite 


114  CHARLES    DELANGLADE 

the  settlement  of  Green  Bay  on  Fox  River  in  the 
present  State  of  Wisconsin;  Sac  and  Foxes  from 
the  Wisconsin  and  Mississippi  Rivers;  the  Winne- 
bago  from  their  Village  of  Menasha  on  Fox  River 
at  the  head  of  Lake  Winnebago  at  the  Island 
now  called  Doty  Island;  the  Iowa  from  the 
plains  on  the  banks  of  the  Des  Moines;  the 
Miamis  from  the  prairie  of  the  Illinois;  nine  hun- 
dred and  seventy-nine  chiefs  and  warriors,  "men 
of  the  forest,  and  men  of  the  plains,  hunters  of 
the  moose  and  hunters  of  the  buffalo,"  with  their 
stone  war  clubs  and  steel  hatchets,  their  flint 
pointed  arrows  and  lances,  and  their  French 
guns.  Some  from  nearby  bunting  grounds  and 
some  from  two  thousand  miles  away.  This  dusky 
throng  of  painted  and  plumed  savages  squatted 
about  under  the  canopy  of  the  green  boughs  of 
the  dark  forest.  The  white  uniformed  French 
fringed  the  outer  circle  of  this  barbaric  council. 

Other  officers  there  were,  often  in  the  uniform 
of  the  bushmen.  There  was  Saint  Luc  de  la 
Corne,  called  "General  of  the  Indians;"  also  the 
intrepid  Marin;  there  was  Charles  de  Langlade, 
the  "Bravest  of  the  Brave,"  and  many  other 
names  known  to  the  history  of  the  times,  and  all 
familiar  from  childhood  with  the  forest  and  the 
savage. 

Pennahuel,  the  Ottawa  chief  and  senior  of  all 
the  tribes  was  there,  with  Kikensick,  Chief  of  the 
Nipissings  and  many  other  war  Kings  of  the 


CKARLESDELANGLADE  115 

savages,  among  whom  we  suppose  was  Old  King 
of  the  Menomonee  and  Dakora,  of  the  Winnebago. 
They  all  committed  themselves  to  the  French,  by 
the  bonds  of  a  wampum  belt,  of  six  thousand 
beads,  produced  by  Montcalm.  After  the  coun- 
cil, by  their  carelessness  they  set  fire  to  the 
woods  of  their  camp,  which  was  afterward  known 
as  Burned  Camp.  They  then  took  to  their 
canoes,  ran  up  Lake  George  and  camped  where 
Captain  Parker  had  been  defeated.  Montcalm 
advised  all  his  officers  to  dispense  with  all  their 
baggage  as  they  were  short  of  boats.  Levis  com- 
manded a  land  party,  and  the  balance  embarked 
in  the  bateaux  and  canoes,  on  the  first  of  August. 
The  expedition  numbered  7,600  men,  of  whom 
1,600  were  Indians.  "And  now  as  evening  drew 
near,  was  seen  one  of  those  wild  pagentries  of 
war  which  Lake  George  has  often  witnessed." 
They  beached  their  water  craft  and  joined  the 
land  forces  about  two  miles  from  the  English  fort. 

Fort  William  Henry  had  been  constructed  by 
Sir  William  Johnson  two  years  before.  It  was 
built  of  a  double  row  of  logs,  locked  together, 
filled  in  with  earth,  and  protected  by  seventeen 
cannon,  besides  several  morters  and  swivels. 

A  brave  Scotch  veteran,  Colonel  Monro,  was  in 
command.  The  cattle  were  gathered  in  and  all 
outer  works  cleared  ready  for  the  fray.  Monro 
sent  off  expresses,  for  assistance,  to  Gen.  Webb 
at  Fort  Edward,  fourteen  miles  away,  on  the 


116  CHARLES    DELANGLAPE 

Hudson.  Webb  had  sent  up  one  thousand  regu- 
lars and  militia,  which  raised  the  garrison  to 
2,200  men.  After  some  skirmishing,  Montcalm 
sent  a  demand  for  the  surrender  of  the  place:  but 
Monro  replied:  "he  would  defend  it  to  the  list." 
The  firing  commenced  on  both  sides  and  lasted 
six  days,  doing  great  damage  to  both  parties. 
Webb  had  written  Monro  that  he  could  give  him 
no  aid,  and  advised  him  to  surrender.  The  con- 
dition of  the  beseiged  camp  was  now  very  dis- 
couraging. More  than  three  hundred  had  been 
killed  and  wounded;  smallpox  was  raging  in  the 
fort;  all  their  large  cannon  and  morters  had 
burst;  only  seven  small  pieces  were  in  service; 
the  whole  of  Montcalm's  thirty-one  cannon  and 
fifteen  morters  had  been  pushed  close  up  and 
were  about  to  open  fire;  the  walls  were  already 
breached  and  their  powder  was  nearly  spent. 
They  fired  their  remaining  cannon  briskly  all 
night,  but  in  the  morning  a  council  determined  to 
surrender.  A  white  flag  was  sent  out,  and  hon- 
orable terms  made.  Before  signing  the  capitu- 
lation, Montcalm  had  called  the  Indian  chiefs  to 
council  and  obtained  their  promises  to  restrain 
their  young  warriors  from  disorder.  The  garri- 
son then  evacuated  the  fort,  and  joined  their 
comrades  in  the  entrenched  camp  near  by.  The 
Indians  climbed  into  the  fort  in  search  of  rum 
and  plunder,  and  instantly  butchered  all  the  sick 
who  were  unable  to  leave  their  beds.  The  mission- 


CHARLES DELANGLADE  117 

ary  Roubaud  says,  he  k'saw  one  of  these  barbar- 
ians come  out  of  the  casements,  with  a  human 
head  in  his  hands,  from  which  the  blood  ran  in 
streams,  and  which  he  paraded  as  if  he  had  got 
the  finest  prize." 

The  French  guard  stationed  at  the  entrenched 
camp,  where  the  English  were  gathered,  did  not 
prevent  the  Indians  entering,  which  they  did  in 
great  numbers.  They  roamed  among  the  tents 
in  an  insolent  manner,  grinning  their  painted 
faces,  "like  fiends  as  they  handled  in  anticipation 
of  the  knife,  the  long  hair  of  the  cowering  women, 
of  whom  as  well  as  children,  there  were  many  in 
the  camp,  all  crazed  with  fright."  The  confus- 
ion in  the  camp  lasted  during  the  afternoon. 
The  Indians  wanted  to  plunder  the  English  money 
chest.  Montcalm  ran  there  and  used  every  means 
to  restore  order;  and  even  arranged  that  two 
chiefs  of  each  tribe  should  go  with  the  escort  to 
guard  the  English  to  Port  Edward  and  prevent  a 
massacre  by  the  young  bucks.  The  English  in 
their  camp  passed  a  fearful  night,  because  of 
their  fears.  In  the  morning  they  were  panic 
stricken,  for  they  not  only  feared  the  Indians, 
but  the  Canadians  also.  In  haste  to  be  gone  they 
got  together  at  day  break,  before  the  French 
escourt  of  three  hundred  regulars  had  arrived. 
They  had  their  muskets,  but  no  powder,  or  bayo- 
nets. The  Indians  had  been  prowling  about  and 
discovered  their  intentions.  There  were  seven- 


118  CHARLESDELANGLADE 

teen  wounded  men  in  huts,  unable  to  join  the 
march.  At  five  o'clock  in  the  morning,  the  Ind- 
ians entered  the  huts,  dragged  out  the  wounded, 
tomahawked  and  scalped  them  all,  before  the 
eyes  of  Dr.  Whitworth  their  surgeon,  and  in  front 
of  some  French  officer  and  soldiers,  who  did  not 
interfere.  The  scene  of  plundering  was  now  be- 
gun. Monro  complained  to  the  officer  of  the  es- 
cort that  the  capitulation  was  broken  but  was 
advised  to  give  up  the  baggage  to  appease  the 
Indians,  which  they  did;  then  the  Indians  demand- 
ed rum.  This  was  given  them,  but  it  only  added 
to  their  bad  temper.  "When  at  last  the  colon- 
nade got  into  the  rough  road,  the  Indians  crowd- 
ed upon  them,  snatching  caps,  coats  and  weapons, 
tomahawked  those  who  resisted,  and  seized 
shrieking  women  and  children,  dragged  them  off 
or  murdered  them  on  the  spot.  Suddenly  the 
Abenakis  gave  the  war  whoop,  and  a  mob  of  sav- 
ages rushed  on  to  the  rear  of  the  English  captives 
and  killed  or  dragged  away  eighty  of  them.  A 
frightful  tumult  ensued,  when  Montcalm,  Levis 
and  other  French  officers  who  had  hastened  from 
their  camp,  came  upon  the  scene  and  threw  them- 
selves among  the  Indians;  and  by  promises  and 
threats  tried  to  prevent  their  awful  crimes. 
Montcalm  cried  out:  "Kill  me,  but  spare  the 
English  who  are  under  my  protection. "  He  took 
from  them  a  young  officer,  whom  the  savages  had 
seized,  but  this  made  the  savages  murder  their 


CHARLES    DELANGLADE  119 

prisoners  so  they  too  would  not  be  taken  away 
from  them.  "The  broken  column  struggled  for- 
ward in  wild  disorder  amid  the  din  of  whoops 
and  shrieks,  till  they  reached  the  advance 
guard,"  and  demanded  protection,  but  were  ad- 
vised to  take  to  the  woods.  About  fifty  were 
killed  and  seven  hundred  made  prisoners,  who 
were  stripped  naked. 

Montcalm  succeeded  in  recovering  over  four 
hundred  of  them  in  the  course  of  the  day  and  re- 
lieved their  wants  by  buying  back  their  clothing. 
Many  of  the  fugitives  took  refuge  in  the  fort 
where  Monro  had  gone  to  demand  protection  for 
his  followers.  Here  were  also  a  crowd  of  fren- 
zied women  crying  for  husbands  and  children. 
All  were  taken  under  a  strong  escort  to  Fort 
Edward.  On  the  morning  after  the  massacre  the 
Indians  set  out  for  Montreal.  Soon  the  fort  was 
demolished,  and  the  logs  heaped  together,  and  all 
set  into  a  blaze,  making  a  funeral  of  blazing 
logs,  among  which  burned  the  bodies  of  those 
killed  in  battle,  and  by  the  tomahawk.  Every- 
thing was  destroyed.  Then  the  French  marched 
away.  The  place  of  ten  thousand  combatants 
was  left  again  to  grow  to  weeds  and  become  the 
silent  home  of  the  wild  birds.  When  news  of  the 
massacre  of  Fort  William  Henry  reached  New 
England,  the  people  flocked  to  the  defense  of  the 
frontier.  Such  horrible  affairs  were  too  often  the 
result  of  employing  Indians,  besides  the  savages 


120  CHARLES DELANGLADE 

were  learning-  the  white  man's  method  of  war,  a 
knowledge  which  in  a  few  years  made  them 
formidable  foes  under  the  famous  chiefs,  Pontiac, 
Tecumseh  and  Black  Hawk. 

Langlade  seems  to  have  grown  each  year  in 
favor  and  to  have  been  steadily  advanced.  He 
now  received  a  singular  mark  of  favor  from  the 
Governor  General  of  Canada,  in  being  appointed 
second  in  command  at  Old  Mackinaw  by  the  fol- 
lowing order: 

"Pierre  Rigaud  de  Vaudreuil,  Governor  and 
Lieutenant  General  for  the  King,  in  all  his  New 
Prance,  lands  and  territories  of  Louisiana;  we 
order  Sieur  Langlade,  Ensign  of  Troops,  de- 
tached from  the  marine  to  leave  this  city  im- 
mediately, and  to  proceed  to  the  post  of  Michili- 
mackinac,  where  he  will  serve  in  the  capacity  of 
second  officer,  under  the  orders  of  Monsieur  de 
Beaujeu,  commander  of  the  post. 

"Made  at  Montreal,  September  8,  1757." 

His  salary  under  this  commission  was  one  thous- 
and francs  per  annum.  We  suppose  he  moved 
his  family  into  the  quarters  provided  within  the 
fort  for  the  winter,  and  assumed  his  command 
under  the  order  quoted  above. 


XI 


1758.  DE  LANGLADE  UNDER  MONTCALM  AT  THE 
FAMOUS  DEFENSE  OF  TICONDEROGA,  WHERE 
THREE  THOUSAND  FRENCH  DEFEATED  THE  ENG- 
LISH ARMY  OF  FIFTEEN  THOUSAND 

THE  war  had  been  a  brilliant  but  exhausting 
success  for  the  French  arms  for  four  years, 
and  very  humiliating  and  expensive  to  the 
English.  Pitt  was  made  prime  minister.  Of 
London,  it  was  said:  "He  was  like  St.  George  on 
the  signs,  always  on  horseback,  but  never  rides 
forward. "  He  was  recalled.  General  Abercrom- 
bie  succeeded  him.  Pitt  asked  the  Colonies  to 
raise  and  clothe  20,000  men  and  promised  to  fur- 
nish arms,  tents  and  provisions  for  them  and  to 
reimburse  the  colonies  for  all  the  money  expended 
in  enlisting  aud  clothing  the  levies.  This  liberal 
offer  had  a  magical  effect  and  excess  of  levies 
appeared.  When  Abercrombie  took  command  in 
May,  1758,  he  found  fifty  thousand  men  at  his 
disposal,  more  than  the  total  male  population  of 
the  French  dominion  in  America  at  the  time. 

The  objective  points  in  this  spring  campaign 
were  Louisburg,Ticonderoga  and  Duquesne,  which 
were  the  military  outposts  of  the  French.  The 
expedition  against  Louisburg  captured  that  for- 
midable fortress  on  the  Island  of  Cape  Breton. 


122  CHARLESDELANGLADE 

The  valiant  Montcalm  had  fortified  Carillo  as 
named  by  the  French,  but  Ticonderoga  as  known 
to  the  English.  The  ground  on  which  Ticonde- 
roga stood  was  one  hundred  feet  above  the  level 
of  the  lake,  on  a  point  about  half  way  down,  on 
west  side  of  Lake  Champlain,  at  the  entrance  of 
the  outlet  of  Lake  Georgia.  It  was  surrounded 
by  water  on  three  sides,  and  the  land  side  was 
marshy,  where  the  French  had  erected  a  strong 
line  of  log  breast  works,  nine  feet  high  with  bat- 
teries, about  a  mile  northwest  of  the  fortress. 
In  front  of  this  breast  work  they  had  felled  trees, 
with  their  limbs  outward,  forming  an  abattis  im- 
possible to  scale.  It  was  at  this  outer  breast 
work  where  the  battle  occurred.  On  July  5th, 
Sunday  evening,  Abercrombie  embarked  on  Lake 
George  with  7,000  regulars  and  9,000  provincials, 
in  one  hundred  and  twenty-five  whale  boats  and 
nine  hundred  bateaux,  with  the  artillery  on  rafts. 
"This  vast  flotilla  proceeded  slowly  down  the 
lake,  with  banners  and  pennons  fluttering  in  the 
summer  breeze,  arms  glittering  in  the  sunshine 
and  martial  music  echoing  along  the  wood  clad 
mountains. "  Lord  Howe,1  a  young  nobleman  and 
brother  of  the  Howe's,  afterward  prominent  in 
the  Revolution,  and  young  Lee,  were  among  the 
officers.  The  next  day  the  expedition  landed  on 
the  west  shore  and  just  at  the  entrance  to  the 
outlet.  Montcalm  had  about  three  thousand 
effective  French  soldiers  and  a  few  Canadians. 


CHARLES    DELANGLADE  123 

De  Levis  who  had  been  sent  to  defend  Port 
Frontenac  was  hastily  recalled  as  the  exaggerated 
news  came  that  twenty-five  thousand  of  the  Eng- 
lish were  setting  out  for  Ticonderoga.  Charles 
de  Langlade  was  there,  with  perhaps  some  of  the 
Canadians  of  the  border,  but  not  his  Indian  war- 
riors. The  fortification  was  not  very  strong,  but 
Montcalm  hastily  threw  up  the  breast  works 
across  the  neck  mentioned  above,  and  caused  the 
trees  to  be  felled  with  limbs  outward  presenting 
a  jagged,  horrid  barrier,  animating  his  men  by 
his  presence,  and  working  with  them.  Yet  Mont- 
calm  even  on  the  day  of  the  attack,  hesitated 
whether  to  hold  it  or  retire  to  Crown  Point,  down 
the  lake.  He  decided  to  await  the  enemy,  as  he 
calculated  that  even  if  he  was  beaten,  he  would 
still  have  time  to  retire  as  it  would  take  the 
enemy  several  days  to  bring  up  their  cannon, 
through  the  dense  forest.  He  sent  out  a  small 
party  to  dispute  the  landing,  who  encamped 
behind  a  log  breast  work,  and  as  soon  as  the 
enemy  came  up  in  three  columns,  fired  on  them, 
set  fire  to  their  camp,  and  retreated.  The  Eng- 
lish columns  pressed  forward,  but  by  the  igno- 
rance of  their  guides,  became  bewildered  in  the 
dense  woods,  fell  into  confusion  and  blundered 
into  each  other.  Lord  Howe  pushed  ahead  with 
his  column.  Putnam  who  was  with  him,  vainly 
urged  caution.  They  came  upon  a  detachment  of 
the  French  who  were  retreating  and  had  also  lost 


124  CHARLES    DELANGLADE 

their  way.  Lord  Howe  who  gallantly  led  the 
van,  was  killed,  regretted  by  all.  His  troops  fell 
on  the  French  and  routed  them,  killing  many  and 
taking  one  hundred  and  fifty  prisoners.  Aber- 
crombie  was  deceived  as  to  the  strength  of  the 
breast  works,  where  he  arrived  in  two  days. 
His  engineers  said  they  were  only  formidable  in 
appearance,  but  really  weak  and  flimsy.  With- 
out waiting  for  his  cannon  and  against  the  opin- 
ion of  his  officers  and  Stark  who  was  there,  he 
gave  orders  to  storm  the  works.  The  orders 
were  gallantly  obeyed.  The  men  rushed  on  with 
fixed  bayonets  and  attempted  to  force  their  way 
through  or  scramble  over  the  abattis,  under  a 
sheeted  fire  of  swivels  and  musketry.  The  offi- 
cers even  tried  to  cut  their  way  through  with 
their  swords.  Some  did  reach  the  parapet,  but 
were  shot  down.  The  breast  work  was  too  high 
to  be  surmounted,  and  was  a  secure  cover  to  the 
French.  Repeated  assaults  were  made  and  as 
often  repelled  with  great  loss  of  life.  They  tried 
the  center,  then  the  flanks;  they  hurled  them- 
selves against  the  sharp  ugly  barrier,  but  could 
scarcely  see  the  firing  line  behind,  that  poured 
a  murderous  fire  into  their  rank.  A  French  offi- 
cer held  up  a  red  handkerchief  on  the  end  of  a 
musket,  and  beckoned  the  enemy  on.  They 
thought  it  a  flag  of  truce  and  rushed  up  with 
their  guns  against  their  breast  and  were  breaking 
through  the  hedge,  when  the  French  fired  fur- 


CHARLESDELANGLADE  125 

iously  at  them.  For  five  hours  they  fought,  and 
when  the  field  was  strewn  with  English  dead,  the 
officers  called  them  off  and  they  retreated  through 
the  dark  night  and  black  forest,  to  their  camp, 
filled  with  dismay.  Two  thousand  had  been 
killed  and  wounded.  Though  the  English  still 
had  four  times  as  many  men  as  the  French,  this 
splendid  army  abandoned  the  project  and  re- 
treated to  the  head  of  the  lake. 

Grignon,  on  the  relation  of  de  Langlade  him- 
self, says  that  his  grandfather  participated  in 
this  battle.  De  Peyster  also  says  he  was  at 
Crown  Point,  which  is  the  same  thing  as  the  bat- 
tle was  just  below  there.  But  Mr.  Joseph  Tasse 
supposes  he  was  not  there,  because  of  Montcalm's 
report  in  which  he  says:  "What  a  day  for  France. 
If  I  had  had  two  hundred  Indians  to  serve  as 
scouts  at  the  head  of  a  detachment  of  a  thousand 
picked  men,  not  many  of  the  enemy  would  have 
escaped  in  their  flight." 

Mr.  Tasse  also  asserts  that  the  record  of  Mack- 
inaw, shows  he  was  Godfather  at  a  baptism  at 
that  post,  on  July  2,  and  the  battle  was  on  the 
9th  of  July,  only  six  days  later.  Yet  he  may 
have  been  Godfather  and  not  have  been  present, 
especially  as  his  wife  was  Godmother  and  was 
present  and  signed  the  record.  This  record  is 
evidence  that  he  was  not  present,  as  he  did  not 
sign  it. 


126  CHARLES    DELANGLADE 

Amable  de  Gere,  a  French  partisan  of  the  west- 
ern posts,  who  was  much  with  de  Langlade  in  the 
war,  says  of  his  leader,  that  de  Langlade  was 
perfectly  cool  and  fearless  in  battle.  He  relates 
an  instance  of  de  Lang-lade 's  coolness  in  battle 
which  must  have  occurred  at  Ticonderoga,  as  it 
was  the  only  battle  in  which  he  was  engaged, 
which  was  not  a  hand  to  hand  contest.  Lang- 
lade  had  been  firing  so  rapidly  that  his  gun 
barrel  became  heated,  and  he  was  obliged  to 
stop,  that  it  might  cool.  He  calmly  sat  down, 
drew  his  pipe  from  its  pouch,  cut"  his  tobacco, 
filled  the  pipe,  took  a  piece  of  punk  wood  and 
struck  fire  with  his  steel  ring  and  flint,  lighted 
his  pipe  and  calmly  sat  and  smoked  while  the 
bullets  flew  thick  and  fast  about  him,  with  as 
much  sangfroid  as  if  at  his  fireside  at  home. 
Having  cooled  his  gun  and  had  his  smoke,  he 
would  begin  his  swift  firing  again. 


1758.  CHARLES  DE  LANGLADE  AGAIN  AT  FORT  DU- 
QUESNK,  WHERE  HIS  OTTAWA  AMBUSH  MAJOR 
GRANT.  ON  HIS  RETURN  HOME  IS  FORCED  TO 
MAKE  A  FEAST  OF  RATTLE  SNAKES 

AT  the  same  time  that  Abercrombie  was  pre- 
paring to  move  on  Ticonderoga,  General 
Forbes  was  gathering  men  and  provisions 
to  march  against  Fort  Duquesne,  the  scene  of 
Braddock's  defeat,  three  years  before. 

As  soon  as  Charles  de  Langlade  could  be  re- 
lieved after  helping  to  slaughter  the  English  at 
Ticonderoga,  he  repaired  to  his  old  fighting 
ground  at  Fort  Duquesne,  where  his  clans  were 
gathering  from  their  lairs  about  Lake  Michigan 
and  the  Fox  River.  Here  they  were  destined 
once  more  to  deal  their  hereditary  foe  a  terrible 
blow,  only  a  short  distance  from  the  spot  where 
Braddock's  dead  army  still  lay  bleaching  on  the 
river  banks,  unburied. 

So  slowly  did  the  English  army  move,  that  by 
the  middle  of  September  they  were  still  fifty 
miles  from  Fort  Duquesne,  at  a  place  called 
Loyal  Hanna  (now  Ligonier,  Pa.).  It  had  been 
determined  early  in  this  campaign,  to  make  a 
new  road  through  Pennsylvania,  and  not  to  march 
by  Braddock's  road,  which  was  completed;  which 


128  CHARLESDELANGLADE 

occasioned  useless  delay.  From  this  place  Bou- 
quet, who  was  in  advance  under  Forbes,  who  was 
in  the  rear  very  sick,  and  against  the  advice  of 
Washington,  who  led  the  Virginians  in  this  cam- 
paign; detached  Major  Grant,  with  eight  hun- 
dred picked  men,  some  of  them  Highlanders, 
others  in  Indian  garb,  and  part  of  Washington's 
Virginia  regiment,  sent  forward  by  him  from 
Cumberland  under  command  of  Major  Lewis. 
Major  Grant's  instructions  were  to  reconnoitre 
the  country  in  the  neighborhood  of  the  fort,  to 
ascertain  the  number  and  position  of  the  French. 
His  conduct  of  the  expedition  was  foolhardy  and 
disasterous.  The  French  were  advised  through 
their  scouts  of  his  approach,  but  suffered  him  to 
advance  unmolested. 

M.  de  Ligneris,  was  in  command  of  the  fort, 
and  Charles  de  Langlade  of  his  western  tribes. 
These  latter  were  constantly  scouting,  and  bring- 
ing in  news  of  the  English  advance,  and  taking 
scalps  when  opportunity  presented  victims  for 
them.  There  was  probably  not  more  than  five 
hundred  French  and  Indians  defending  the  fort. 

In  the  fort  provisions  were  very  low.  They  had 
no  hope  for  reinforcements,  asGeneralBradstreet 
had  been  dispatched  in  August  to  capture  Fron- 
tenac  (now  Kingston)  at  the  foot  of  Lake  Ontario, 
and  had  destroyed  it  with  all  its  guns,  and  a  large 
amount  of  stores  intended  for  Duquesne.  The 
English  now  controlled  the  Lake.  But  with  that 


CHARLES    DELANGLADE  129 

desperation  born  of  vast  empire  to  be  maintained 
with  a  small  army  of  brave  men,  the  garrison  of 
Port  Duquesne  without  hope,  was  bound  to  hold 
to  the  last.  Their  first  opportunity  now  came  to 
them,  when  Grant  displayed  his  bravado. 

De  Langlade  had  his  savages  out  watching 
every  move  of  Major  Grant,  and  bided  his  time  of 
assault.  Arriving  at  night  in  the  neighborhood 
of  the  Port,  Grant  posted  his  men  on  a  hill,  now 
called  "Grant's  Hill,"  and  sent  out  a  party  of  ob- 
servation, who  set  fire  to  a  log  house  near  the 
walls  and  returned  to  the  encampment.  As  if 
this  were  not  enough  to  notify  the  French,  he 
ordered  the  reveille  to  be  beaten  in  the  morning, 
then  posting  Major  Lewis,  with  his  provincial 
troops  at  a  distance  in  the  rear  to  protect  the  bag- 
gage, he  marshalled  his  regulars  in  battle  array, 
and  sent  an  engineer  with  a  covering  party,  to 
take  a  plan  of  the  works,  in  full  view  of  the  gar- 
rison. De  Langlade  was  waiting  in  ambush  with 
his  faithful  warriors  until  the  English  were  prop- 
erly within  his  coils.  Not  a  gun  was  fired  from 
the  fort.  Silence  was  mistaken  for  fear,  which 
increased  the  carelessness  of  Major  Grant.  At 
length  when  off  his  guard,  the  gates  opened,  and 
out  poured  the  French  soldiers,  born  to  border 
war  fare;  the  lurking  savages  from  their  hiding 
behind  trees  and  bushes  gave  their  war  whoop; 
and  all  swept  on  to  the  Highlanders  with  hair 
splitting  screeches,  and  a  shower  of  shot  that 


130  CHARLESDELANGLADE 

felled  them  like  autumn  leaves,  and  filled  them 
with  dismay.  The  Highlanders  for  some  time 
stood  their  ground  bravely,  but  the  destructive 
fire  and  yells  from  the  unseen  foe,  soon  caused 
panic  and  confusion.  Major  Lewis  at  the  first 
sound  of  the  attack,  left  Captain  Bullitt,  with 
fifty  Virginians  to  guard  the  stores,  and  hurried 
into  action.  The  battle  was  kept  up  for  some 
time,  but  the  confusion  was  disastrous.  The  sav- 
ages sprang  from  their  biding  with  tomahawk 
and  scalping  knife.  Lewis  fought  hand  to  hand 
with  an  Indian  brave  whom  he  killed,  but  being 
surrounded  by  others,  only  saved  his  life  by  sur- 
rendering to  a  French  officer;  as  also  did  Major 
Grant.  The  whole  force  of  the  enemy  was  now 
put  to  rout  with  awful  carnage.  Captain  Bul- 
litt, gathered  some  of  the  fugitives  about  him, 
and  prepared  to  make  a  forlorn  stand.  He  sent 
off  some  of  the  most  valuable  baggage  with  the 
strongest  horses,  then  made  a  breast  work  of 
wagons.  Bullitt's  men  held  their  fire  until  the 
savages  came  close  up,  then  poured  into  them  a 
destructive  hail  of  bullets  which  checked  them 
only  for  a  moment;  and  as  they  were  again  press- 
ing forward,  Bullitt  held  up  a  white  flag;  and  ad- 
vanced as  if  to  surrender,  but  when  within  eight 
yards  of  the  savages,  his  men  suddenly  leveled 
their  guns  and  fired;  then  charged  the  savages 
with  bayonets.  The  Indians  fled  in  dismay.  Bul- 
litt then  retreated  with  all  speed,  collecting  the 


IVORY  HANDLED  SWORD 

King  Louis  XV  presented  to  de  Lanclade  for  valiant  service  at  Quebec,  now  in 

possession  of  a  descendant,  Mr.  Joseph  Perrault,  of  Town 

Howard,  near  Green  Bay. 

RED,  BRITISH,  CAPTAIN'S  UNIFORM  OF  DE  LANGLADE 

Also  in  possession  of  Mr.  Joseph  Perrault.     Photographs  kindly  furnished  by  Hon. 
Edmund  P.  Boland,  of  Green  Bay. 


CHARLES    DELANGLADE  131 

wounded  and  stragglers  as  he  hurried  along. 
The  fragments  of  Major  Grant's  command  strag- 
gled back  to  Colonel  Bouquet's  camp,  having  met 
with  a  loss  of  twenty-one  officers  and  two  hun- 
dred and  seventy-three  privates. 

It  was  the  5th  of  November  before  the  whole 
British  army  was  assembled  at  Loyal  Hanna.  It 
had  been  raining  for  several  weeks.  It  now  be- 
gan to  snow.  It  was  cold  and  the  new  roads  were 
almost  impassable.  General  Forbes  had  been 
constantly  sick  with  a  flux  and  unable  to  stand, 
was  carried  in  a  litter.  Their  provisions  were 
consumed.  A  council  of  war  had  determined  it 
was  impracticable  to  advance  further  that  sea- 
son. They  were  fifty  miles  from  Fort  Duquesne, 
far  away  over  the  rugged  mountains,  mantled  in 
thick  forest  and  underbrush,  crossed  by  mountain 
streams;  the  snow  and  cold  and  hunger  was  wear- 
ing out  the  men  and  horses. 

The  commanders  at  Niagara,  Detroit  and  the 
Illinois  forts  had  been  commanded  to  send  all 
available  aid  to  Ligneris  at  Fort  Duquesne;  with 
the  Indian  tribes  of  the  Huron,  Ottawas,  Pottaw- 
attamies,  Miamis  and  others;  including  the  Dela- 
wares  and  Shawanoes.  Forbes  had  been  so  slow 
in  his  march  that  the  French  feared  their  Indian 
allies  would  desert  them.  This  was  precisely 
what  Forbes  had  hoped  for.  He  had  taken  exten- 
sive measures  to  draw  off  the  Delawares,  Shawa- 
noes and  Mingoes.  By  the  skillful  aid  of  the 


132  CHARLESDELANGLADE 

wonderful  Moravin  Missionary,  Christian  Fred- 
erick Post,  gathered  a  great  Council  at  Easton, 
where  these  warlike  tribes,  who  had  spread 
desolation  and  ruin  on  the  Virginia  and  Penn- 
sylvania frontiers,  were  Joined  to  the  English  by 
treaty. 

With  all  their  courageous  energy,  the  position 
of  the  French  was  desperate,  but  this  was  un- 
known to  General  Forbes.  The  Militia  of  Louis- 
iana and  the  Illinois  left  the  fort  and  went  home. 
The  Indians  of  Detroit  and  the  Wabash  deserted. 
The  supplies  destined  for  Fort  Duquesne  being 
destroyed  at  Frontenac,  Ligneris  was  compelled 
to  dismiss  the  greater  part  of  his  force  or  starve. 
He  awaited  the  approach  of  the  enemy  with  the 
few  who  remained. 

In  November  after  it  had  been  determined  by 
the  council  in  the  British  camp  to  go  no  farther 
that  season,  three  prisoners  were  brought,  who 
reported  the  defenseless  condition  of  Fort  Du- 
quesne, which  reversed  the  orders  and  on  Novem- 
ber 18th,  Washington  with  twenty-five  hundred 
picked  men,  burdened  only  with  knapsack  and 
blankets,  marched  for  the  fort,  which  they  reach- 
ed in  five  days,  but  found  it  in  flames,  its  mag- 
azines blown  up  and  its  small  garrison  gone. 
Some  down  the  Ohio,  some  overland  to  Venango 
and  Presque  Isle.  The  next  season  the  British 
built  a  new  fort  which  they  named  Fort  Pitt. 
The  campaign  of  1758  had  been  disastrious  to 


CHARLESDELANGLADE  133 

France  in  the  loss  of  Louisburg  which  guarded 
the  St.  Lawrence;  Prontenac,  the  important  post 
on  Ontario;  and  now  the  main  stronghold  which 
protected  their  western  interests;  besides  numer- 
ous Indian  tribes  were  now  friendly  to  the  Eng- 
lish. England  had  now  gained  all  she  had  sought 
by  the  war,  but  Pitt's  ambition  soared  higher. 
His  aim  was  now  to  conquer  the  vast  French 
possessions  in  America.  In  the  next  year  he  pro- 
moted Wolf  above  his  fellows  and  gave  into  his 
hands  the  great  task. 

Charles  de  Langlade  had  sent  Kinonchusie,  his 
Uncle,  who  was  brother  to  the  Great  Nissowa- 
quet,  war  chief  of  the  Ottawa,  on  a  hurried  voy- 
age home  with  orders  to  bring  corn  to  the  starv- 
ing garrision  of  Fort  Duquesne.  But  by  a  letter 
written  at  his  request  by  the  Jesuit  missionary, 
P.  DuJaunay  from  Point  St.  Ignace  Mission, 
which  was  then  thirty  miles  south  of  Old  Mack- 
inaw, at  L'Arbre  Croche,  on  Sept.  24,  1758,  we 
learn  that  there  was  no  corn  to  be  had.  That 
those  who  formerly  raised  eighty  sacks,  would 
not  have  ten  sacks.  Corn  was  so  scarce  that  the 
traders  at  L'Arbre  Croche  were  paying  as  high 
for  one  sack,  "as  seven  fist  fulls  of  powder,  and 
three  hundred  balls."  By  the  same  letter  de 
Langlade  was  informed  that  his  own  fields  had 
been  destroyed  by  high  fall  winds.  We  have  no 
information  of  the  route  taken  by  de  Langlade 
on  his  return  home,  but  suppose  he  departed 
from  the  Fort  several  weeks  before  it  was 


134  CHARLES    DELANGLADE 

abandoned  and  probably  crossed  the  territory  of 
the  present  State  of  Ohio,  going-  directly  to 
Detroit.  As  the  garrison  was  almost  starving, 
his  party  must  have  gone  away  with  a  very  small 
supply  of  provisions,  for  their  journey.  It  may 
have  been  on  this  homeward  journey  that  he  and 
his  party  nearly  starved  to  death  as  related  by 
Augustin  Grignon.  On  this  occasion  being  in  a 
famishing  condition,  they  discoved  a  nest  of  live 
rattle  snakes.  By  means  of  forked  sticks  they 
caught  them  by  the  neck,  "severed  their  heads 
from  their  bodies,  dressed  the  meat,  and  made  a 
most  savory  meal. " 

At  this  late  day  we  can  scarcely  realize  the 
hardships  he  must  have  endured  with  his  long 
marches  and  canoe  voyages,  thousands  of  miles 
through  wilderness  and  over  the  treacherous 
lakes,  camping  at  night  on  the  ground,  often  wet 
to  the  skin,  and  constant  companion  of  savages, 
and  relying  mainly  on  wild  game  for  a  living. 
During  the  French  and  Indian  war  he  must  have 
travelled  in  this  way  three  to  four  thousand  miles 
each  season  or  farther  during  the  war  than  once 
around  the  earth.  No  one  during  that  war  trav- 
eled near  as  many  miles  or  fought  as  many  bat- 
tles. It  has  never  been  reported  that  he  was  ever 
injured  in  battle.  He  seemed  to  bear  a  charmed  life. 

This  winter  after  his  return  home  from  Fort 
Duquesne,  he  repaired  again  to  Grand  River  with 
his  family,  where  he  spent  the  winter  in  the  In- 
dian trade. 


XIII 

1759.      UNHAPPY   CANADA 

WE  now  approach  the  period  when  France 
was  to  make  her  final  struggle  to  retain 
her  American  possessions.  She  was  but 
poorly  prepared  in  wealth  or  population  in 
Canada  for  the  contest.  The  population  of 
Canada  by  the  census  of  1754,  was  fifty-five  thou- 
sand; adding  that  of  Louisiana  and  Acadia.  The 
whole  white  population  of  the  British  colonies 
along  the  Atlantic  coast  was  one  million  and 
one  hundred  thousand.  This  was  a  very  great 
difference  in  the  numerical  strength  of  the  two 
combatants.  However,  the  British  colonies  were 
divided  and  separated  by  questions  which  con- 
cerned the  interest  of  each  differently,  and  there- 
fore they  had  permitted  the  war  to  drag  along 
through  the  weary  years.  At  this  period  the 
state  of  public  knavery  had  reached  enormous 
proportions  and  public  corruption  permeated 
every  branch  of  the  French  colonial  government. 
Montcalm,  who  had  been  sent  over  to  command 
the  troops,  was  not  able  to  live  within  his  salary, 
the  prices  were  so  high,  and  the  honest  soldier 
did  not  know  how  to  enter  into  these  schemes,  by 
which  others  made  themselves  rich  by  robbing 
their  king.  He  wrote  a  cypher  letter  to  the 


136  CHARLES    DELANGLADE 

Minister  of  War  at  Paris,  exposing  the  deplora- 
ble conditions  of  Canada,  the  peculations  and 
robberies  of  those  intrusted  with  its  interests. 
He  mentions  the  case  of  Le  Mercier,  chief  of 
Canadian  Artillery,  who  had  come  to  Canada  as 
a  private  soldier,  twenty  years  before,  and  now 
worth  a  million  through  the  fraudulent  contracts. 
The  Intendant  Bigot  who  lived  in  great  luxury, 
had  a  profit  in  every  contract,  and  amassed  a 
vast  fortune;  as  did  also  the  Governor  General 
Vaudreuil.  The  King  was  discovering  the  facts 
of  this  stupendous  thievery,  and  the  letters  from 
Versailles  became  appalling  in  rebuke  and  men- 
ace to  Vaudreuil:  "The  ship  Britanna,  laden  with 
goods  such  as  are  wanted  in  the  colony,  was  cap- 
tured by  a  privateer  and  brought  into  Quebec. 
You  sold  the  whole  cargo  for  eight  hundred 
thousand  francs.  The  purchaser  made  a  profit 
of  two  million.  You  bought  back  a  part  for  the 
King  at  one  million,  or  two  hundred  thousand 
more  than  the  price  at  which  you  sold  the  whole. 
The  amount  of  your  drafts  on  the  treasury 
is  frightful."  Cadot  was  the  chief  brigand  in 
this  looting  of  the  public  treasury,  and  became 
the  richest  man  in  the  colony.  His  chief  method 
was  the  falsification  of  accounts,  which  to  ac- 
complish he  bribed  the  officers  by  brandy  or 
money.  In  one  of  these  operations  accomplished 
by  the  aid  of  Bigot  the  Intendant,  Cadot  bought 
of  the  King  for  six  hundred  thousand  francs,  a 


CHARLES DELANGLADE  137 

quantity  of  stores,  then  sold  them  back  to  the 
King-  for  double  that  amount. 

These  pirates  in  the  ship  of  state,  not  only 
stole  their  King  poor,  but  they  trafficed  in  the  life 
of  the  inhabitants  of  the  colony.  Cadot  told  the 
Intendant  that  the  inhabitants  were  hoarding 
their  grain  and  obtained  an  order  requiring  them 
to  sell  at  a  low  price,  and  he  obtained  nearly  all 
of  it.  Famine  was  the  result,  he  then  sold  at 
high  price,  partly  to  the  King  and  partly  to  those 
who  had  been  obliged  to  sell  to  him.  The  com- 
mand of  a  fort  brought  such  opportunities  for 
gain,  that  such  appointments,  which  were  made 
for  three  years,  were  much  sought  after.  The 
gift  was  a  favor  of  the  Governor  who  shared  in 
the  spoils.  The  profit  was  made  largely  in  over 
stating  the  number  of  presents  required  to  keep 
the  Indians  friendly,  which  the  King  was  to  pre- 
sent free  to  the  Indians,  but  which  were  stolen 
by  the  commandants  and  traded  to  the  Indians 
for  furs,  which  brought  a  high  price.  At  the  post 
of  Green  Bay,  the  partisan  officer  Marin,  and 
Kigaud,  the  Governor's  brother,  made  in  a  short 
time,  a  profit  of  three  hundred  and  twelve  thou- 
sand francs.  The  Governor  put  his  stepson,  La 
Verrier  in  command  at  Old  Mackinaw,  where  by 
fraudulent  connivance  of  his  stepfather,  the 
young  man  made  a  fortune. 

When  Charles  de  Langlade  was  made  second  in 
command  at  Old  Mackinaw  and  also  when  ordered 


138  CHARLES DELANGLADE 

to  Grand  River  for  several  winters  in  succession, 
his  opportunity  to  amass  a  fortune  must  have 
been  very  tempting,  and  doubtless  one  of  the 
reasons  why,  one  whose  abilities  as  a  partisan 
leader  was  so  far  superior  to  his  fellows,  was  not 
advanced  to  his  proper  place  in  promotion,  was 
that  he  would  not  rob  the  King.  He  was  often 
approached  to  join  the  conspirators,  but  it  was 
not  to  his  liking.  He  was  an  honest  man,  as  well 
as  brave.  He  would  gladly  fight  for  his  country, 
but  would  not  steal  from  his  King. 

On  one  occasion  he  made  up  his  account  of 
goods  purchased  for  the  Indians  in  his  depart- 
ment, when  the  French  commissioner  returned  it 
to  him  for  correction,  suggesting  that  he  make  it 
over  again,  which  was  a  hint  that  he  raise  the 
amount.  He  returned  it  transposed  but  for  the 
same  amount.  It  was  returned  to  him  again  with 
the  same  request,  but  he  returned  it  without 
change.  This  was  repeated  four  times,  and  always 
returned  as  before  for  the  same  amount.  At 
length  the  commissioner  intimated  to  him,  sup- 
posing he  was  a  bit  dull  of  comprehension,  that 
he  "had  sent  it  back  to  him,  as  he  saw  it  was  for 
a  very  moderate  sum,  and  the  King  of  France 
could  very  well  pay  it,  if  it  was  four  or  five  times 
as  large." 

De  Langlade  replied:  "The  account  was  all 
just,  and  he  could  claim  nothing  more."  He 
never  used  his  position  or  opportunity  to  rob  the 
public,  and  died  as  he  had  lived,  an  honest  man. 


XIV 

1759.  WOLF,  MONTCALM  AND  DE  LANGLADE  AT 
THE  CAPTURE  OF  THE  WALLED  FORTRESS  AT 
QUEBEC 

THE  winter  was  one  of  dread  and  suffering1  in 
Canada.  The  Canadian  had  never  lost 
heart,  but  promptly  obeyed  the  Governor's 
call  to  arms,  and  had  borne  with  commendable 
patience,  the  burdens  of  war  and  submitted  to 
the  oppressions  of  official  robbery  as  patiently  as 
their  forefathers  on  the  Loire,  always  loyal  to 
their  country,  their  church,  and  the  dishonest 
administration  which  abused  their  rights.  When 
the  able-bodied  men  went  to  war,  in  which  most 
of  them  were  employed  in  the  menial  service,  the 
peasant  women,  boys  and  old  men,  tilled  the 
fields  and  raised  a  meager  harvest,  "which  al- 
ways might  be,  and  often  was  taken  from  them 
in  the  name  of  the  King." 

The  condition  of  Canada  was  deplorable.  The 
St.  Lawrence  was  patroled  by  British  ships, 
threatening  communication  with  Prance;  the 
harvest  had  been  small;  a  barrel  of  flour  cost 
two  hundred  francs;  the  cattle  and  horses  had 
been  killed  for  food;  the  people  lived  on  salt  cod 
or  provisions  from  France;  all  prices  were  high; 
the  French  officers  could  not  live  on  their  pay, 


140  CHARLESDELANGLADE 

"while  the  native  and  imported  scoundrels  fatted 
on  the  general  distress."  "What  a  country," 
writes  Montcalm.  "here  all  the  knaves  grow  rich, 
and  the  honest  men  are  ruined." 

The  only  hope  was  in  an  appeal  to  the  Court. 
Two  messengers  were  sent  to  France  to  lay  the 
case  before  the  ministry.  They  begged  for  troops 
arms,  munitions,  food  and  a  squadron  to  defend 
the  St.  Lawrence.  The  reply  was,  France  re- 
quired all  her  strength  in  the  seven  year  war 
then  raging  in  Europe.  That  the  King  trusted 
everything  to  the  zeal  and  energy  of  Montcalm, 
advising  him  to  concentrate  his  forces,  that  they 
might  easily  support  each  other,  and  save  a  foot- 
hold in  Canada.  All  that  could  be  obtained  was 
four  hundred  regulars,  gunpowder,  arms  and  pro- 
visions. 

In  the  spring  of  1759  when  Canada  was  losing 
its  white  fields  of  snow  and  ice,  the  envoys  re- 
turned up  the  St.  Lawrence  and  reported.  "A 
little  is  precious  to  those  who  have  nothing," 
said  Montcalm.  They  brought  word  of  the  great 
armament  fitting  out  in  England,  destined  to  at- 
tack Quebec.  The  colony  was  abandoned  to  its 
fate.  It  was  believed  they  would  be  attacked 
by  at  least  fifty  thousand  men;  to  oppose  which 
there  were  in  the  government  of  Montreal,  Three 
Rivers  and  Quebec,  thirteen  thousand  effective 
men.  Add  to  these  four  thousand  French  soldiers, 
fifteen  hundred  colony  troops,  a  body  of  irregu- 


CHARLESDELANQLADE  141 

lars  in  Acadia,  the  militia  and  traders  of  Detroit, 
and  other  posts,  and  two  thousand  Indians,  and 
we  have  the  whole  force  of  Canada.  Still  there 
was  hope  that  a  stand  could  be  made  at  Quebec, 
as  the  only  way  of  approach  was  barred  by  the 
impregnable  natural  fortress  of  Quebec,  the 
Lachine  Rapids,  or  Isle  aux  Noix,  at  the  outlet 
of  Lake  Champlain. 

In  early  spring  at  Montreal,  Montcalm  and  the 
Governor  General  Vaudreuil,  settled  on  a  plan  of 
defence.  Bourlamaque,  with  three  battalions  was 
ordered  to  take  post  at  Ticonderoga  to  hold  Gen- 
eral Amherst  in  check.  La  Corne  was  sent  with 
a  strong  detachment  to  watch  the  Lachine  rapids 
above  Montreal.  "Every  able  bodied  man  in  the 
colony,  and  every  boy  who  could  fire  a  gun  was 
called  to  the  field."  Governor  Vaudreuil  sent 
out  a  circular  letter  to  be  read  to  all  the  people, 
exhorting  them,  "to  defend  their  religion,  their 
wives,  their  children  and  their  goods,  from  the 
fury  of  the  heretics."  The  Bishop  of  Canada  is- 
sued pastorials  begging  the  people  to  flock  to 
the  standard  of  the  cross.  In  the  midst  of  these 
preparations  for  the  common  defense,  came  the 
news  of  the  intended  expedition  of  Wolf  against 
Quebec;  which  spread  consternation  among  the 
people,  but  there  was  great  joy  when  twenty- 
three  vessels  of  supplies  from  France,  eluding 
the  British  men  of  war,  set  to  watch  them,  sailed 
up  the  St.  Lawrence. 


142  CHARLES    DELANGLADE 

Nearly  all  the  forces  of  Canada  were  ordered 
to  Quebec.  "Such  was  the  ardor  of  the  people 
that  boys  of  fifteen  and  men  of  eighty,  were  to  be 
seen  in  the  camp. "  The  plan  of  defense  finally 
settled  on,  was  to  intrench  along  the  high  banks 
of  the  river  from  seven  miles  beyond  Quebec, 
down  as  far  as  the  Montmorency,  whose  waters 
flowing  through  a  deep  gorge,  finally  leap  down 
two  hundred  and  fifty  feet,  forming  a  white, 
foaming  veil,  of  picturesque  scenery,  scarcely 
equaled  in  all  the  world.  Overlooking  this  long 
line  of  entrenchments,  one  saw  a  busy  scene, 
where  Montcalm  was  making  all  ready  to  defend 
Canada.  In  this  long  camp  there  were  fifteen 
thousand  men  and  Indians,  and  the  rock  of 
Quebec  was  defended  by  about  two  thousand 
men.  The  Canadians  who  formed  the  greater 
part  of  these  defenders,  could  not  be  trusted  to 
fight  in  the  open,  but  would  fight  well  behind 
intrenchments. 

Against  this  force  posted  behind  breastwork, 
Wolf  was  to  bring  but  nine  thousand  men,  avail- 
able for  fighting  on  land,  and  the  lofty  heights 
that  lined  the  river,  would  make  the  ships 
cannon  useless. 

Charles  de  Langlade  had  been  busy  at  Old 
Mackinaw,  in  the  early  spring,  sending  runners 
in  all  directions,  rousing  the  Indians  for  the 
coming  battle.  Early  in  June  the  tribes  had 
gathered.  There  were  two  hundred  savages  of 


CHARLES    DELANGLADE  143 

the  nations  about  Old  Mackinaw,  Ottawa  and 
Ojibwa.  To  these  were  joined  the  Kristineax 
from  beyond  Lake  Superior;  the  Sioux  of  the  Mille 
de  Lac  country;  the  Sacs  and  the  Foxes  of  the 
Wisconsin;  the  Menomonee  and  Winnebago  from 
the  Pox  River  of  Wisconsin;  in  all  a  band  of  twelve 
hundred  painted,  feathered,  naked  savages,  who 
forever  at  war  among  themselves,  now  floated 
their  five  hundred  bark  canoes  in  unison  and  in  fra- 
ternal peace,  while  they  hurried  to  the  plunder 
and  scalps  of  the  white  man's  war.  At  the  head  of 
this  fleet  of  savages  went  the  partisan  Captains, 
Charles  de  Langlade  and  Verendrie,  "one  of  the 
discoverers  of  the  Rocky  Mountains  and  the 
western  sea."  "Old  Caron"  himself,  the  tall, 
war  chief  of  the  Menomonee  and  his  dusky  son, 
Glode,  was  with  that  warrior  band;  as  well  as 
O-son-wish-ke-no,  the  yellow  bird;  and  Ka-cha- 
ka-wa-she-ka,  the  notch  maker.  Anable  de  Gere, 
the  partisan  leader,  was  also  with  this  throng  of 
western  barbarians,  as  were  all  the  Coureuers  de 
bois,  habitant  traders  and  wood  rangers  who 
made  the  wild  trackless  west  their  home,  one  and 
all  and  swept  on  the  bosom  of  the  great  waters  to 
the  defense  of  the  white  fleur  de  lis,  which  had 
shimmered  in  the  northern  breeze,  from  the 
citadel,  on  the  heights  of  Old  Quebec,  since  the 
days  of  Champlain. 

The    little    city    of   Montreal    was   alive   and 
thronged  the  shore  to  witness  this  barbaric  fleet, 


144  CHARLESDELANGLADE 

as  it  swiftly  flew  along  the  bosom  of  the  broad 
St.  Lawrence,  making  the  wooded  heights  echo 
with  the  wild  songs  of  the  wood  rangers  and  the 
savage  yells  of  defiance  to  the  foes  of  their  French 
brother. 

De  Langlade  leaped  ashore  and  immediately 
reported  to  the  officer  in  command.  The  horde 
of  savages  beached  their  canoes  and  rushed 
through  the  town.  Some  of  them  from  the  most 
westerly  end  of  Lake  Superior  had  been  for  three 
months  on  the  journey  and  traversed  the  whole 
length  of  the  Great  Lakes.  They  were  glad  to 
ease  their  cramped  limbs  and  learn  the  news. 
They  had  arrived  on  the  twenty- third  of  July  and 
only  remained  long  enough  to  refresh  themselves, 
when  they  again  embarked,  and  the  long  line  of 
fleet  canoes  swiftly  sped  past  wood  embowered 
islands,  their  cheers  echoing  over  the  lofty 
heights  along  the  great  river  as  they  hurried  on 
to  Quebec.  In  about  a  week  they  beached  their 
bark  canoes  on  the  low  strand  above  the  rock, 
and  gathering  their  spears  and  war  clubs,  scram- 
bled up  the  steep  and  slippery  banks  to  the 
heights,  then  marched  to  their  place  in  the  line 
along  the  thick  forest,  which  skirted  the  gorge  of 
Montmorency.  "Langlade,"  says  Mr.  Tasse, 
"came  to  offer  anew  his  valiant  sword  to  Mont- 
calm,  who  the  first  of  our  heroes,  had  only  heroes 
under  his  command;  he  came  to  assist  in  the  last 
stage  of  that  grand  struggle  where  so  many  times 


CHARLES    DELANGL.ADE  145 

his  courage  and  skill  had  shone  forth  conspicu- 
ously." 

A  few  days  before  this,  on  the  twenty-sixth, 
the  British  squadron,  with  Wolf's  command,  had 
sailed  up  the  river  and  lay  opposite,  behind  the 
Island  of  Orleans.  The  view  below  the  entrench- 
ments of  the  French,  was  one  of  pastoral  peace 
and  thrift,  "wind-mills,  water-mills,  churches, 
chapels  and  compact  farmhouses,  all  built  of 
stone,"  and  surrounded  with  wooden  picket 
fences. 

On  the  same  night  the  English  had  landed  on 
the  island  and  crossed  to  the  upper  side.  Here 
Wolf  could  find  little  hope  of  success  and  saw  how 
desperate  was  his  undertaking.  He  could  see  in 
part  the  formidable  task  which  awaited  him. 
Quebec  sat  perched  upon  her  rock,  a  walled  town 
of  stone  houses,  churches,  palaces,  convents  and 
hospitals.  Batteries  frowned  everywhere.  Full 
in  sight  lay  the  far  extended  camp,  behind  en- 
trenchments, from  Quebec  to  the  falls  of  Mont- 
morency,  high  upon  the  bluffs  and  cliffs.  Above 
the  city,  Cape  Diamond  hid  the  view,  but  there 
the  St.  Lawrence  had  also  cut  its  way  deep  into 
the  soil,  leaving  high,  perpendicular  walls,  often 
inaccessible  and  so  difficult  to  approach  that  a 
few  men  at  the  top  could  hold  an  army  in  check. 
Quebec  was  a  natural  fortress. 

It  had  been  reported  that  with  entrenchments, 
easily  made,  and  defended  by  three  thousand 
men,  the  city  would  be  safe. 


146  CHARLES DELANGLADE 

Now  sixteen  thousand  men  lined  up  behind 
their  breastworks,  stood  in  its  defense.  Mont- 
calm  had  determined  to  avoid  a  general  battle, 
run  no  risks,  and  keep  the  enemy  off  until 
fall,  when  winter  would  compel  them  to  with- 
draw. A  violent  wind  made  a  wreck  of  some 
of  the  English  shipping  and  destroyed  many 
of  the  small  boats.  This  was  thought  a  good  op- 
portunity to  let  down  the  fire-boats  loaded  with 
shell  among  the  English  fleet,  but  the  excited 
captain  set  fire  to  his  ships  a  half  hour  too  soon. 
They  made  an  elegant  display  of  fireworks,  but 
did  little  damage.  Montcalm  wrote  that  he 
"passed  every  night  in  bivouac,  or  slept  in  his 
clothes,"  so  watchful  was  he  that  no  surprise 
should  find  him  unprepared.  Wolf  held  in  check 
at  every  point  and  determined  to  do  something, 
seized  the  Point  Levi,  opposite  Quebec,  where 
the  St.  Lawrence  River  was  about  a  mile  wide. 

From  here  he  reduced  the  lower  town  to  ruins, 
but  be  accomplished  nothing  as  he  could  not  in- 
jure the  fortifications  on  the  height,  or  the  French 
army  of  defense. 

The  Montmorency  ran  down  from  the  sloping 
table  lands,  until  near  its  entrance  to  the  St. 
Lawrence,  where  it  had  worn  itself  into  the  rock, 
forming  a  deep  gorge  into  which  plunged  the 
beautiful  falls  of  the  Montmorency,  one  misty 
plunge  of  two  hundred  and  fifty  feet. 

Around  this  gorge  ranged  the  lofty  precipices 
covered  with  stunted  evergreens  and  birch.  On 


CHARLES    DELANGLADE  147 

the  western  side  of  the  abyss  for  about  seven 
miles  to  Quebec,  where  the  embattled  heights  of 
the  St.  Lawrence,  crowned  everywhere  with  the 
intrenchments  of  the  French.  Wolf  still  on  the 
southern  side  of  the  river,  casting-  about  for  some 
method  to  arrive  at  Montcalm's  army,  deter- 
mined to  cross  over  and  make  lodgement  below 
the  gorge  of  Montmorency.  The  Chevalier  de 
Levis,  with  his  division  of  Canadian  militia,  oc- 
cupied the  heights  of  the  St.  Lawrence,  which 
skirted  the  right  bank  and  western  crest  of  the 
falls  of  Montmorency.  On  the  eighth  of  July, 
several  English  frigates  and  a  bombketch  took 
their  station  before  the  camp  of  de  Levis,  and 
shelled  and  cannonaded  him  all  day,  doing  little 
damage  because  of  the  elevated  position  of  the 
French,  but  gained  their  object  of  distracting 
their  attention  from  the  intended  movement  of 
Wolf.  Towards  evening  the  English  troops  on 
the  Point  Orleans  broke  up  camp.  Major  Hardy 
with  a  detachment  of  warriors  was  left  to  hold 
that  post,  while  the  rest  embarked  at  night. 
They  were  the  brigades  of  Murry  and  Townsend 
of  five  battalions,  a  body  of  grenadiers,  rangers 
and  light  infantry,  three  thousand  men  in  all. 
Before  daybreak  they  landed  below  the  falls, 
swept  away  a  small  party  of  Canadians  and  In- 
dians, scaled  the  steep  banks  to  the  plateau 
above,  and  intrenched  themselves. 

A  company  of  rangers  supported  by  a  detach- 
ment of  regulars,   was  sent   into   the  woods  to 


148  CHARLESDELANGLADE 

guard  the  sappers  who  were  cutting  trees  for  the 
parapets,  and  to  look  for  a  fording  place  over  the 
Montmorency  above  the  falls. 

Chevalier  de  Levis  and  his  aide-de-camp  John- 
stone,  stood  out  on  the  hills  in  the  early  gray  of 
morning,  watching  the  English  across  the  chasm. 
Johnstone  asked  his  Commander  if  he  was  sure 
there  was  no  ford  higher  up  the  Montmorency,  by 
which  the  English  could  cross.  He  answered  he 
was  sure,  there  was  none,  but  a  Canadian  whis- 
pered to  Johnstone  that  there  was  a  ford  three 
miles  up,  and  afterward  brought  a  man  who 
averred  he  crossed  the  night  before  with  a  sack  of 
wheat  on  his  back,  at  which  a  detachment  was 
sent  at  once  to  the  place,  where  they  intrenched, 
and  Repentigny,  a  Lieutenant  of  Levis,  was 
posted  near  by  with  eleven  hundred  Canadians. 

Pour  hundred  Indians  crossed  the  ford  under 
the  partisan  de  Langlade,  says  Francis  Parkman, 
the  historian  of  Wolf  and  Montcalm,  discovering 
the  English  in  the  woods,  hid  themselves,  and  de 
Langlade  hurried  back  to  inform  Repentigny 
that  there  was  a  body  of  English  in  the  forest, 
who  might  all  be  destroyed  if  he  would  cross  over 
at  once  with  the  Canadians.  Repentigny  sent 
for  orders  to  Levis,  who  sent  for  orders  to  Vau- 
drueil,  the  Governor  General,  whose  headquar- 
ters were  four  miles  distant.  Vaudrueil  answered 
no  risk  should  be  run  and  he  would  come  and  see 
for  himself.  It  was  about  two  hours  before  he 


CHARLES    DELANGLADE  149 

arrived,  by  which  time  the  Indians  impatient  at 
delay  before  the  enemy,  rose  from  their  hiding 
place,  fired  on  the  rangers  and  drove  them  back, 
with  heavy  loss  on  the  regulars,  who  stood  their 
ground.  The  Indians  recrossed  the  ford  with 
thirty-six  scalps.  "If  Repentigny  had  advanced 
and  Levis  had  followed  with  his  main  body," 
says  Parkman,  "the  consequences  to  the  English 
might  have  been  serious;"  for  as  Johnstone  re- 
marks: "A  Canadian  in  the  woods,  is  worth  three 
disciplined  soldiers;  as  a  soldier  on  the  plain,  is 
worth  three  Canadians."  The  opportunity  was 
lost  by  delay  in  permitting  de  Langlade  and  his 
savages  to  organize  the  ambush  to  strike  terror 
to  the  British  lines.  Had  they  been  supported  in 
the  attack,  the  Indians  would  have  stampeded 
the  English  into  the  water  and  ruined  Wolf's 
chances  of  capturing  Quebec,  as  he  could  not 
recover  from  a  loss  of  three  thousand  men. 

There  was  no  possibility  of  failure  in  the  at- 
tack, as  Wolf  could  not  receive  support  from  his 
other  divisions,  one  at  Point  Levi  on  the  opposite 
side  of  the  St.  Lawrence,  seven  miles  away, 
while  Montcalm  could  have  hurled  his  entire 
army  against  this  small  array  of  English.  But 
Vaudrueil  and  Montcalm  were  both  agreed  for 
once,  on  a  fatal  policy  of  inaction.  Montcalm 
said:  "Let  him  amuse  himself  where  he  is.  If 
we  drive  him  oif  he  may  go  to  some  place  where 
he  may  do  us  harm."  But  the  constant  activity 


150  CHARLES DELANGLADE 

of  Wolf  was  disheartening-  to  the  Indians  and 
Canadians,  who  became  restless  in  their  camps. 
The  Canadians  began  to  desert,  and  were  only 
held  to  their  duty  by  being  threatened  with  the 
Indians.  At  eleven  o'clock  at  night  on  the 
eighteenth,  the  English  with  a  part  of  their  fleet, 
passed  the  batteries  of  Quebec  safely,  and 
reached  the  river  above  the  town.  The  army  of 
Wolf  was  now  divided  into  four  parts,  that  above 
Quebec,  part  on  Point  Levis,  and  the  detachment 
remaining  on  the  Island  of  Orleans,  with  the 
force  on  the  heights  of  Montmorency,  and  all  so 
far  apart  that  none  of  the  separate  commands 
could  come  to  the  assistance  of  each  other  with- 
out loss  of  valuable  time.  Mr.  Parkman  says  of 
this  occasion:  "That  Montcalm  did  not  improve 
this  opportunity,  was  apparently  due  to  want  of 
confidence  in  his  militia. "  However,  the  quick 
wit  of  de  Langlade  again  saw  the  opportunity, 
but  though  he  begged  for  orders  to  attack  and 
support,  was  not  permitted  to  charge  the  British. 
It  was  on  the  twenty-fifth  of  July,  that  de  Lang- 
lade  with  his  Wisconsin  savages  lay  in  the  tall 
pines  and  firs  along  the  southern  shore  of  the 
Montmorency,  always  on  guard  to  pick  off  reck- 
less British,  who  might  stray  away  from  their 
camp.  Suddenly  a  great  throng  was  seen  to 
leave  the  parapets  and  move  toward  the  forest. 
It  was  a  detachment  of  Wolf's  army,  two  thou- 
sand strong,  on  a  reconnoissance.  The  savages 


CHARLESDELANGLADE  151 

were  surprised  to  note  their  regular  advance,  as 
if  on  parade.  They  imprudently  pushed  their 
way  through  the  woods  almost  to  the  light  in- 
trenchment  of  the  outpost  of  the  French.  The 
Indians  lay  on  their  stomachs,  behind  fallen 
trees,  in  low  depressions  and  shielded  by  bushes. 
They  were  armed  with  knives,  spears,  arrows, 
war  clubs  and  guns,  and  were  impatient  for  the 
war  whoop  to  arouse  them  to  the  charge.  The 
ambush  was  perfect,  and  the  surprise  would  have 
been  complete  and  the  rout  disastrous,  if  sup- 
ported by  the  Canadian  wood-rangers. 

The  Chevalier  Johnstone,  a  native  of  Edinburgh, 
a  Jacobite  who  served  in  the  rebellion  of  1754,  made 
in  the  interest  of  the  Stuart  family,  and  after  defeat 
at  the  battle  of  Culloden,  escaped  to  Holland,  and 
subsequently  entering  the  French  service  was 
sent  to  Canada,  where  he  was  made  aide-de-camp 
to  Levis,  and  afterward  to  Montcalm.  On  the 
fall  of  Canada,  he  repaired  to  France,  where  he 
wrote  upon  the  events  through  which  he  had 
passed.  Parkman  says:  "He  had  great  oppor- 
tunity to  acquire  information  during  the  cam- 
paign; and  the  record  though  written  in  the  form 
of  a  dialogue  between  the  ghosts  of  Wolf  and 
Montcalm,  are  of  substantial  historical  value." 
In  writing  the  account  of  this  important  affair, 
we  have  followed  closely  the  language  and  facts 
as  furnished  by  Chevalier  Johnstone. 

By  this  journal,  the  English  are  said  to  have 
imprudently  run  headlong  into  the  woods  with 


152  CHARLESDELANGLADE 

two  thousand  men,  who  naturally  ought  to  have 
been  cut  to  pieces  and  neither  Wolf  nor  any  man 
on  that  side  of  the  river  allowed  to  escape. 
Nine  hundred  Indians  lay  in  ambush,  within 
pistol  shot  of  them,  and  would  have  cut  off  the 
retreat  before  discovery.  As  soon  as  the  Indians 
had  surrounded  the  English  in  the  woods,  de 
Lang-lade  hurried  away  to  beg-  de  Levis  to  order 
an  attack  and  for  assistance.  He  informed  Che- 
valier de  Levis  that  they  had  the  English  in  the 
net.  That  the  enemy  was  greatly  their  superior 
in  numbers,  and  vehemently  begged  de  Levis  to 
order  M.  de  Repentigny  to  pass  the  ford  and  join 
him  with  eleven  hundred  men,  which  he  had  un- 
der his  command  in  the  intrenchments;  that  they 
would  be  answerable  for  their  own  lives  if  a  sin- 
gle man  of  the  enemy  should  return  to  camp,  but 
they  did  not  think  themselves  strong  enough  to 
successfully  strike  the  meditated  blow  without 
their  reinforcements  of  Canadians. 

There  were  many  officers  at  de  Levis'  headquar- 
ters, and  the  General  having  assembled  them, 
gave  them  his  opinion,  that  it  seemed  dangerous 
to  attack  an  enemy  in  the  woods  whose  force  he 
could  not  estimate;  that  it  might  prove  to  be  the 
whole  English  army,  and  bring  on  a  general  en- 
gagement, for  which  they  were  not  prepared,  and 
if  defeated,  he  would  be  blamed  for  bringing  on 
a  battle  without  orders  from  his  superiors.  All 
his  officers  out  of  deference  to  their  commander, 


CHARLES    DELANGLADE  153 

endorsed  his  views,  except  his  aide-de-camp,  who 
declared  there  was  not  the  smallest  probability 
that  the  English  army  was  there,  since  the  In- 
dians who  never  fail  to  magnify  the  number  com- 
puted them  at  two  thousand  men;  that  even 
supposing  it  was  the  enemies  whole  force,  it 
would  be  fortunate  to  have  a  general  engagement 
in  the  woods,  where  a  Canadian  is  worth  three 
disciplined  soldiers,  and  it  was  essential  that 
those  who  composed  two-thirds  of  the  army, 
should  select  the  movement  and  choice  of  place 
as  the  English  were  almost  entirely  regulars. 
That  orders  should  be  sent  at  once  to  Repentigny 
to  cross  the  river,  immediately,  with  his  detach- 
ment and  join  the  Indians;  and  the  army  be 
advanced  to  give  such  support  as  would  be  found 
necessary.  Even  if  the  English  were  victors,  the 
Canadians  knew  how  to  escape  in  the  woods. 
The  aid-de-camp  did  not  seem  to  favor  the  wait- 
ing policy  of  the  French  camp,  as  he  closes  by 
urging,  "that  when  fortune  offers  her  favors, 
they  ought  to  be  snatched  with  avidity." 

These  reasons  made  no  impression  on  General 
Levis,  nor  did  the  urgent  arguments  of  de  Lang- 
lade  prevail.  He  was  sent  back  with  a  negative 
reply.  His  only  way  lay  over  the  broken  hills 
and  across  the  river,  which  he  waded  or  swam, 
thence  through  the  ravines  and  hills  covered 
with  heavy  growth  of  timber  and  thicket,  two 
miles  from  the  camp  of  de  Levis,  to  the  place 


154  CHARLES    DELANGLADE 

where  the  Indians  were  in  ambush.  They  heard 
him  with  disgust,  and  were  so  determined  to  rush 
on  the  foe,  that  he  restrained  them  with  difficulty. 
Finally  he  returned,  to  again  importune  de  Levis, 
to  order  the  charge  and  send  the  Canadians.  He 
came  back  with  new  entreaties,  and  earnest  so- 
licitations to  impress  General  de  Levis.  He  used 
every  argument  known  to  the  intrepid  fighter. 
De  Levis  could  not  be  induced  to  take  the  respon- 
sibility of  positive  orders,  but  finally  wrote  a  let- 
ter to  Repentigny,  which  he  handed  de  Langlade 
to  deliver,  in  which  he  stated  that,  "having  the 
greatest  confidence  in  his  prudence  and  good  con- 
duct, he  might  pass  the  river  with  his  detach- 
ment, if  he  saw  a  certainty  of  success." 

He  was  told,  while  he  was  sealing  the  letter, 
that  Repentigny  bad  too  much  judgment  and 
good  sense  to  assume  the  responsibility  of  an 
affair  of  such  importance;  and  as  soon  as  he  read 
the  letter,  he  did  send  to  de  Levis  for  positive 
orders.  After  de  Langlade  had  rushed  about 
entreating  and  begging  the  proper  support  and 
much  discouraged,  de  Levis  after  the  loss  of  much 
valuable  time,  finally  resolved  to  go  in  person 
and  give  his  orders  on  the  spot,  but  when  he  had 
arrived  near  the  ford,  a  rattle  of  shots  were 
heard.  The  Indians  carried  away  at  last  by  their 
impatience,  after  having  lain  flat  on  the  ground 
for  five  hours  awaiting  orders,  gave  the  war 
whoop  and  charged  the  English,  whose  red  coats 


DK  LANGLADE  AT  QUKBEC 

In  the  outworks,  on  the  banks  of  the  Montmorency.     "He  came  back  with  new 
entreaties,  and'earnest  solicitations  to  impress  General  de  Levis."    Page  154. 


CHARLES    DE    L.A  N  G  L  A  D  E  155 

could  be  plainly  seen  through  the  brush.  They 
were  so  impetuous  that  the  English  retreated, 
crying1,  " All  is  lost. "  The  alarm  was  communi- 
cated even  to  the  main  camp,  to  which  General 
Wolf  had  returned.  More  than  one  hundred  and 
fifty  of  the  English  were  killed,  with  a  loss  of 
only  two  Indians.  M.  Penet  in  his  journal  of  the 
siege  of  Quebec,  remarks:  "that  unfortunately 
no  advantage  was  taken  of  this  stroke."  An- 
other relation  says:  ''The  whole  army  regretted 
that  they  had  not  profited  by  so  fine  an  oppor- 
tunity."  Johnstone  concludes:  "It  is  evident 
that  had  Repentigny  crossed  the  river  with  his 
detachment  of  eleven  hundred  Canadians,  Wolf 
must  have  been  cut  to  pieces,  and  the  affair  would 
have  terminated  his  expedition,  as  his  army  could 
have  no  hope  of  success  after  such  a  loss." 

Mr.  Joseph  Tassee  writes,  that  it  is,  "evident 
we  cannot  form  too  high  an  opinion  of  the  ability 
of  de  Langlade,  and  of  the  important  service  he 
would  have  rendered  to  the  French  cause." 

We  can  clearly  see  now  at  this  late  day  as  those 
who  took  part  did  see,  that  the  French  policy  of 
not  risking  a  battle,  was  a  safe  policy  in  the 
main,  but  should  not  have  been  continued  when  a 
favorable  chance  offered  to  take  the  English  un- 
awares, and  in  detachments.  In  this  instance 
the  veteran  borderer,  Charles  de  Langlade  had 
clearly  pointed  the  way  not  only  to  end  the  cam- 
paign, but  capture  Wolf  with  half  his  army.  Had 


156  CHARLES    DELANGLADE 

his  urgent  entreaties  been  heeded,  this  might 
have  saved  Canada  to  the  French  and  changed 
the  map  of  America. 

We  do  not  regret  the  stupidity  of  the  French  on 
this  occasion,  as  after  events  have  shown,  that 
all  was  for  the  best;  and  we  would  not  change 
any  of  the  events  in  view  of  the  vast  change  that 
was  working  out  for  the  future  good  of  the  race, 
not  even  to  prove  that  the  subject  of  our  history 
might  have  been  the  hero  of  the  great  war. 

During  all  the  summer,  Wolf  had  used  the 
utmost  energy  as  a  careful  and  daring  commander 
to  bring  on  an  engagement  with  Montcalm,  with- 
out success.  The  French  commander  had  no 
confidence  in  the  Canadian  militia,  and  behind 
his  intrenchments  Quebec  was  safe,  if  he  could 
tire  out  the  enemy.  Wolf  was  very  ill,  yet  full  of 
energy.  It  has  been  said  of  him  at  this  time,  that 
"his  energy  was  doubly  tasked;  to  bear  up  his 
sinking  frame,  and  to  achieve  an  almost  hopeless 
feat  of  arms."  His  forces  had  been  constantly 
active,  always  assaulting  some  point  in  the  long 
line  of  defenses.  Once  they  crossed  the  Mont- 
morency  at  the  foot  of  the  falls  and  charged  up 
the  heights,  but  a  flood  of  rain  drove  them  back, 
aided  by  the  sharp  fire  of  the  French.  Detachments 
overrun  all  the  surrounding  country  destroying 
crops,  and  the  farm  buildings,  foraging  every- 
where. A  large  body  of  troops  and  the  fleet  in  the 
St.  Lawrence  above  Quebec,  spread,  terror  and 
cut  off  the  supplies  of  the  French  army. 


CHARLES    DELANGLADE  157 

De  Langlade's  command  of  savages  were  ever  on 
the  alert  to  capture  the  English  when  opportun- 
ity offered,  and  were  not  satisfied  to  remain  so 
inactive  before  the  enemy.  The  brave  general, 
Montcalm,  was  everywhere,  incessantly  vigilant. 
He  writes  in  September:  "The  night  is  dark;  it 
rains;  our  troops  are  in  their  tents,  with  clothes 
on,  ready  for  an  alarm;  I'm  in  my.boots;  my  horse 
is  saddled.  In  fact,  this  is  my  usual  way.  I  can- 
not be  everywhere,  though  I  multiply  myself, 
and  have  not  taken  off  my  clothes  since  the  twen- 
ty-third of  June. "  Winter  was  fast  coming  on, 
and  the  Admiral  of  the  fleet  had  warned  Wolf,  he 
must  prepare  to  leave,  but  he  had  informed  the 
Admiral  that  he  had  a  plan  that  he  was  ar- 
ranging, which  he  would  attempt,  and  if  it  failed, 
they  would  sail  away.  His  plan  was  the  desper- 
ate one,  to  scale  the  heights  of  Abraham  above  the 
town.  lOnthe  twelfth  of  Septemberallbeingready, 
his  boats  filled  with  soldiers,  slowly  moved  down 
with  the  tide,  and  in  the  dark,  the  men  leaped  ashore 
and  climbed  the  steep  heights,  clinging  to  bushes 
and  stones.  The  sleeping  guard  at  the  top  was 
overpowered,  and  by  morning  Wolf  was  at  the 
head  of  thirty-five  hundred  veteran  English  regu- 
lars, and  colony  troops,  in  line  of  battle  on 
the  plains  of  Abraham,  about  a  mile  from  the 
fortress  of  Quebec,  on  the  same  level.  Montcalm 
had  been  out  all  night  alarmed  by  the  diversion 
made  by  the  fleet  to  attract  attention  from  Wolf's 


158  CHARLES    DELANGLADE 

real  move.  In  the  morning,  he  heard  some  firing 
above  Quebec,  and  rode  his  black  horse  in  that 
direction.  Nearing  the  St.  Charles  river,  he  saw 
in  the  distance  the  long  line  of  red  coats.  Ex- 
claiming, "This  is  a  serious  business,"  he  at  once 
sent  officers  in  every  direction,  ordering  up  the 
troops,  which  he  deployed  in  front  of  the  fortress. 
A  council  of  war  favored  an  immediate  attack, 
and  they  marched  into  the  battle,  which  was 
fierce,  sharp  and  short.  The  French  gave  way 
before  the  English  fire.  Montcalm,  crowded 
along  by  the  fugitives,  was  fatally  shot  through 
the  body. 

Charles  de  Langlade  with  his  command  of  west- 
ern savages,  came  over  to  battle  with  Wolf,  and 
ranged  themselves  behind  bushes  and  cornfields 
on  the  English  right  along  the  edge  of  the  bluff. 
They  kept  up  a  continuous  fire,  taking  deliberate 
aim  and  hitting  their  man  at  every  shot.  They 
were  not  stampeded  by  the  terrible  fire  of  the 
English,  and  when  the  French  column  was  broken 
to  pieces,  these  sharpshooters  continued  their 
fire  from  concealed  thickets. 

Against  them  Wolf  himself  led  the  charge.  He 
was  made  a  special  mark  for  their. skill,  and  a 
shot  shattered  his  wrist.  He  wrapped  it  with  his 
handkerchief,  and  pushed  on.  Another  shot 
wounded  him,  but  he  still  led  the  charge,  when  a 
third  shot  lodged  in  his  breast.  He  staggered 
and  fell.  He  was  mortally  wounded  and  soon 


CHARLES    DELANGLADE  159 

expired.  It  is  not  known  who  fired  the  fatal  shot, 
though  it  was  doubtless  some  of  the  savage  band 
led  by  Charles,  if  not  de  Langlade  himself. 

Charles  de  Lang-lade  did  valiant  service  for 
his  country  on  this  memorable  day,  and  had  the 
misfortune  to  see  two  brothers  killed  by  his  side, 
and  many  of  his  friends.  No  one  could  expect 
reports  of  individual  bravery  from  the  Governor 
General,  whose  cowardly  conduct  in  retreating  to 
a  safe  distance,  and  yielding  the  impregnable  for- 
tress of  Quebec  only  added  to  his  lifelong  treach- 
ery to  his  country;  while  he  at  once  wrote  to 
France  the  most  scandalous  fabrications  defam- 
ing the  brave  Montcalm,  "who  closed  a  life  too 
brief.  His  sun  in  rays  of  glory  set"  on  that  un- 
fortunate field,  where  now  stands  a  marble  shaft 
erected  alike  to  the  fame  of  both  these  brave 
generals,  Montcalm  and  Wolf. 


XV 


1760.  PROMOTED  FIRST  LIEUTENANT  BY  LOUIS  XV 
AND  PRESENTED  BY  HIM  WITH  A  SWORD.  THE 
BOURBON  BANNER  COMES  DOWN  AT  OLD  MACK- 
INAW. ENGLAND  CONQUERS  CANADA.  DE  LANG- 
LADE  COMMANDER  OF  THE  NORTHWEST. 

LATE  in  the  fall,  Charles  de  Langlade  and  his 
followers  were  relieved  from  duty  to  return 
to  their  western  post.  As  they  paddled  up 
the  streams  and  crossed  the  portages  at  the  dif- 
ferent St.  Lawrence  rapids,  and  at  Niagara,  and 
sped  swiftly  over  the  cool  lakes,  they  saw  the 
shores  golden  and  crimson  with  autumn  leaves, 
and  the  water  reflected  the  deep,  blue  sky.  The 
nights  were  cool  and  frosty,  while  now  and  then 
a  cold  swift  wind  swept  the  lakes  and  they  rested 
until  the  waters  were  quiet  again.  After  a 
canoe  journey  of  many  days,  and  just  as  the  ice 
fringed  the  shore  and  the  chilling  blasts  of  win- 
ter shook  out  her  great  sheets  of  snow,  they  saw 
ahead  of  them,  the  smoke  curling  upward  from 
the  log  cabins  in  Old  Mackinaw.  Soon  the 
people  saw  them  coming  with  swift  flying  pad- 
dles over  the  strait,  and  lined  the  shore  to  give 
them  a  hearty  greeting.  They  were  very  glad  to 
reach  the  shore  of  their  humble  home  in  this  far 
outpost,  and  we  may  be  sure  those  who  waited 


CHARLES DELANGLADE  161 

for  so  many  months  for  their  return  from  the 
fatal  fields  of  Quebec,  were  filled  with  joy  to 
have  them  home  again.  The  tales  they  brought, 
served  to  make  the  evening  about  the  great  fire- 
place one  of  interest  and  excitement.  It  has  sel- 
dom fallen  to  the  lot  of  men  to  have  the  thrilling 
personal  experience  of  the  brave  Charles  de 
Langlade.  We  may  suppose  the  greeting  his 
young  and  beautiful  wife  gave  him  on  his  return 
was  worthy  a  valient  knight's  home  coming  from 
the  wars.  He  had  painful  news  to  bring  of  his 
two  brothers  shot  by  his  side  on  the  Plains  of 
Abraham.  Soon  the  snows  came  down,  and  at 
Christmas  Day  the  waters  were  locked  in  ice. 
Then  the  trapping  and  hunting  began  again. 
The  furs  were  carefully  salted  and  laid  away. 
No  one  was  weary  in  this  far  away  solitary 
world,  for  all  loved  the  wild.  At  night  the  fiddle 
was  taken  from  its  hook  up  among  the  cross 
poles,  and  the  happy  songs  of  France  rose  on  the 
air,  accompanied  by  the  soft,  sweet  tones  of  the 
violin. 

Then  the  bottle  or  jug  of  wine  was  set  on  the 
table,  with  wild  nuts  and  sweet  meats,  while  all 
sat  about  to  listen  to  the  tales  of  war  and  battle 
of  which  none  ever  tired. 

The  Indians  had  declared  their  disgust  of  the 
last  summers  maneuvers,  and  many  refused  to  be 
drawn  into  the  war  again,  insisting  they  would 
not  return  the  following  summer  to  Montreal. 


162  CHARLES    DELANGLADE 

They  had  been  greatly  disappointed  at  not  being- 
supported  by  the  French  on  the  several  occasions 
when  they  ambushed  the  scarlet  coats  in  the 
woods;  not  so  much  because  they  specially  de- 
sired the  defeat  of  the  English,  as  because  they 
principally  went  to  the  war  for  booty  and  scalps, 
and  when  denied  a  chance  to  win  their  savage 
trophies,  they  felt  as  if  their  long  journey  had 
been  in  vain.  This  was  the  savage  way.  Early 
in  the  spring,  Charles  de  Langlade  prepared 
again  to  make  the  journey  for  the  seventh  time 
in  this  long  war  to  bear  his  part  in  the  defense  of 
his  native  country,  though  he  must  have  felt  it 
was  useless.  With  the  able  bodied  settlers,  habi- 
tants, coureurs  de  bois,  rangers,  soldiers  of  the 
post,  and  a  few  hundred  Indians,  he  set  out,  as 
soon  as  the  strait  was  clear  of  ice,  about  the  first 
of  May.  Their  canoes  glided  along  the  strait 
around  the  upper  end  of  Michigan,  whose  shores 
were  evergreen  in  places  and  shrouded  in  deep, 
black  woods  denuded  of  their  leaves,  in  others. 
The  green  grass  was  but  just  springing  into  life 
after  its  long  burial  beneath  the  winter  snow. 
They  swiftly  rounded  these  points,  crossed  the 
great  bays  of  Saginaw,  and  glided  over  the  ever 
turbulent  waters  of  Lake  Huron  close  to  the  dark 
and  dismal  shore. 

At  night  they  set  up  their  little  tent  in  some 
shaded  nook,  and  lighted  their  camp  fires,  fear- 
lessly, as  the  savages  who  prowled  about  those 


CHARLESDELANGLADE  163 

forests,  loved  de  Langlade,  and  his  party  were 
perfectly  safe  from  treachery.  In  a  few  days 
they  were  skimming  along  with  paddle  and  cur- 
rent in  the  deep,  wide  swift  St.  Croix  river,  and 
at  last  came  to  the  frontier  settlement  and  pick- 
eted military  post  of  Detroit.  Here  they  tarried 
for  refreshments  and  to  rest,  while  they  enjoyed 
again  the  society  of  these  congenial  companions. 
After  a  few  days  they  again  pushed  out  their 
frail,  birch  bark  canoes,  joined  by  several  from 
the  post  bound  on  the  same  errand.  The  banks 
were  now  green  with  returning  spring,  and  the 
trees  commenced  to  show  cotton  buds,  making 
ready  to  unfold  their  leaves  with  the  first  warm 
shower.  Swiftly  the  canoes  flew  down  the  current 
of  the  great  river,  on  whose  bosom  now  floats  a 
vast  commerce  in  an  unending  fleet  of  iron  and 
wooden,  steam  and  sail  boats,  more  valuable 
than  enters  the  port  of  Liverpool.  Soon  they 
floated  out  on  to  the  bosom  of  the  beautiful 
Lake  Erie.  Fearlessly  they  thread  their  way 
along  wooded  shores  and  among  green  Islands, 
for  no  English  or  Iroquois  enemy  has  yet  gone 
beyond  Niagara.  After  several  weeks  from 
home  they  at  last  enter  the  swift  current  of 
the  Niagara  river,  and  soon  land  among  the 
bushes  on  the  Canadian  shore.  To  carry  their 
boats  and  luggage  around  the  falls,  is  now  a 
delicate  task,  for  the  savages  of  the  Five  Na- 
tions are  sworn  to  the  English  whose  soldiers 


164  CHARLES    DELANGLADE 

have  been  in  possession  of  Fort  Niagara  since 
the  previous  summer.  If  they  should  be  discov- 
ered, it  might  be  possible  for  these  savages  to 
bring  a  force  sufficient  to  overpower  his  small 
party.  Cautiously  they  stole  along  over  the 
broken  heights  beneath  which  roared  the  great 
cataract  of  Niagara.  When  about  seven  miles 
from  Lake  Ontario  the  river  below  the  falls  be- 
came quiet,  and  here  at  night  they  landed  their 
frail  craft  and  silently  glided  past  the  fort  out  on 
to  Ontario.  Unceasingly  plying  the  paddles  all 
night,  by  morning  they  saw  the  gray  outline  of 
the  Canadian  shore,  where  at  last  they  rested 
safe  from  attack,  near  where  Toronto  stands. 
After  an  interval  they  glided  on,  keeping  the 
northern  coast  line  in  sight,  and  ever  on  the  look- 
out for  an  enemy,  for  now  the  English  were  in 
possession  of  the  southern  shore  with  a  party  at 
Oswego  from  which  Amherst,  but  a  few  weeks 
later,  embarked  for  the  capture  of  Montreal  and 
Canada.  The  Lake  being  crossed  in  its  longest 
distance  they  enter  the  wide,  swift  water  of  the 
lordly  St.  Lawrence  river,  and  glide  past  its  thou- 
sands of  wooded  islands  now  gorgeous  in  the  rich 
green  and  the  brilliant  wild  flowers  of  Spring,  a 
sight  most  beautiful  and  entrancing,  even  to  the 
men  born  in  the  wilds.  They  keep  a  close  watch 
on  either  shore  with  rifles  ready  for  instant  use, 
as  their  might  be  a  foe  at  every  turn.  For  this 
reason  they  are  journeying  much  at  night,  and 


CHARLES    DELANGLADE  165 

never  go  ashore  during1  the  day  time.  They  pass 
numerous  Indian  towns,  but  always  at  night  if 
possible.  The  many  treacherous  rapids  of  the 
river  have  no  terrors  for  these  expert  canoemen 
and  pilots.  They  pass  them  all  as  easily  as  if 
they  were  quiet  waters.  After  many  weeks  they 
see  on  the  high  bank  of  the  river  in  the  distance, 
the  low  stone  walls  of  Montreal,  only  fit  for 
Indian  defense,  now  patrolled  by  soldiers.  They 
have  long  since  learned  from  the  Canadians,  met 
on  the  way  that  the  French  Canadian  army  was 
drawing  into  Montreal  to  make  its  last  stand  for 
the  Fleur  de  Lis  in  all  Canada  and  Louisiana. 
De  Langlade  took  his  place  in  the  ranks  and 
stood  by  to  do  whatever  duty  was  assigned  to  him. 

The  English  General  Amherst,  who  had  wasted 
all  the  preceding  summer  in  getting  half  way  up 
the  banks  of  Lake  Champlain,  besides  capturing 
Niagara,  was  now  on  the  move  to  embark  on  the 
St.  Lawrence.  Murray  was  moving  on  Montreal 
from  Quebec,  and  Haviland  was  moving  to  the 
same  place  along  Lake  Champlain.  On  they  all 
came  to  meet  and  surround  the  last  army  and 
stronghold  of  New  France. 

In  June,  the  mail  from  France  brought  Charles 
de  Langlade  for  his  valued  services  in  defense  of 
Quebec,  the  previous  summer,  a  promotion  to 
lieutenant  of  troops  stationed  in  Canada,  signed 
by  King  Louis  XV  himself.  This  interesting  doc- 
ument with  the  seal  of  France  still  attached  is 


166  CHARLES DELANGLADE 

now  in  the  Historical  Society  collection  at  Madi- 
son, Wisconsin.  It  reads  as  follows: 

'  'By  the  King :  His  Majesty  having  made  choice  of 
Sieur  Charles  deLanglade  to  serve  in  the  capacity 
of  half  pay  Lieutenant  with  the  troops  holding 
Canada,  he  commands  the  Lieutenant  General  of 
New  Prance  to  receive  him,  and  cause  him  to  be 
recognized  in  the  capacity  of  half  pay  lieutenant 
by  them  and  all  others  whom  it  may  concern. 

"Done  at  Versailles,  February  1,  1760. 

BERRYER.  Louis. 

"Registered  at  the  Comptroller's  office  of  the 
marine  of  New  France  at  Montreal,  the  16th  day 
of  June,  1760.  DEVILLERS. 

He  was  now  entitled  to  wear  the  white  uniform 
of  a  French  officer  and  looked  very  gay  indeed. 
His  sword  was  an  ivory  handled  straight  blade, 
with  a  white  scabbard  and  is  still  in  possession  of 
his  descendents  at  Green  Bay,  who  retain  a  tra- 
dition, that  this  sword  was  sent  to  de  Langlade 
by  King  Louis  XV. 

Early  in  September,  Murray  lay  on  the  lower 
side  of  Montreal  with  his  forces  from  Quebec 
amounting  to  twenty-five  hundred  men;  Havi- 
land  was  across  the  St.  Lawrence  with  thirty- 
five  hundred;  and  Amherst  smashing  over  the 
surging  rapids  down  the  St.  Lawrence  with  ten 
thousand  veterans,  was  expected  very  soon  to 
land  above  the  town.  Vaudreuil,  the  Gover- 
nor of  New  France  had  in  his  small  army  two 


LIEUTENANT  DK  LANGLADE'S  COMMISSION 

Signed  by  King  Louis  XV  at  Versailles,  given  for  service  in  defense  of  Quebec. 
Page  166.     Now  in  possession  of  Wisconsin  Historical  Society. 


CHARLES    DELANGLADE  167 

companies  of  deserters  from  the  English.  It  was 
expected  that  these  would  be  captured  and  pun- 
ished when  General  Amherst  conquered  Canada, 
which  all  knew  would  be  the  outcome  of  the  war 
in  a  very  short  time.  The  western  Indians  under 
de  Lang-lade,  would  be  of  no  service  hereafter  as 
the  Governor  had  fully  determined  to  surrender 
the  Province.  He  therefore  called  Charles  de 
Langlade  to  him,  on  the  third  of  September,  and 
informed  him  of  his  wish,  that  de  Langlade 
should  leave  at  once  with  his  army  of  savages; 
and  also  take  charge  of  the  two  companies  of 
English  deserters  and  pilot  them  west  and  then 
into  Louisiana,  that  they  might  be  as  far  from 
meeting  the  English  as  possible.  It  was  certain- 
ly a  safe  hiding  place  for  one  to  get  into  the  far 
western  forests  in  those  days.  At  the  same  time 
the  Governor  appointed  Charles  de  Langlade, 
"Superintendant  of  the  Indian  nations  of  the 
Upper  Country." 

His  careful  instructions  he  placed  in  writing 
which  we  copy  here  in  full  as  an  interesting 
paper: 

"Pierre  Rigaud,  Marquis  de  Vaudreuil,  Grand 
Cross  of  the  Royal  and  Military  Order  of  St. 
Louis,  Governor  and  Lieutenant  General  for  the 
King  in  all  New  France,  lands  and  regions  of 
Louisiana: 

"Sieur  de  Langlade,  half-pay  lieutenant  of  the 
troops  of  the  Colony,  whom  we  have  charged  with 


168  CHARLES    DELANGLADE 

the  superintendance  of  the  Indian  nations  of  the 
Upper  Country,  which  are  returning  to  their  vil- 
lages, is  ordered  to  use  his  utmost  diligence  to 
report  with  them  at  Michillhnackinac,  to  watch 
that  they  commit  no  theft,  nor  offer  any  insult 
to  the  canoes  of  the  voyageurs  whom  they  may 
meet  on  their  route;  always  to  encourage  them  in 
their  attachment  to  the  French  nation,  making 
them  feel  that  if  we  have  the  misfortune  to  be 
taken  by  the  enemy,  the  Colony  could  at  the  ut- 
most remain  only  a  few  months  in  its  power,  and 
that  if  peace  is  not  actually,  it  is  probably  on  the 
point  of  being  made." 

"We  notify  Sieur  Langlade,  that  he  is  by  our 
orders  to  transfer  two  companies  of  deserters 
from  the  English  troops,  by  the  way  of  the  Upper 
Country,  to  be  sent  to  Louisiana;  which  compan- 
ies are  commanded  by  two  sergeants,  one  Irish 
and  the  other  German,  both  very  intelligent,  and 
quite  capable  of  preserving  discipline  in  their 
troops.  Sieur  Langlade  will  therefore  take  care 
that  his  Indians  stir  up  no  quarrel  with  these  de- 
serters, nor  commit  theft;  nor  insult  them  while 
they  are  under  their  escort;  he  will  also  procure 
for  them  all  those  facilities  of  which  they  may 
have  need  along  the  route,  and  which  may  de- 
volve upon  him;  and  he  will  also  select  such 
Canadians  to  guide  these  deserters,  as  will  not 
abandon  them. ' '  ' ' VAUDREUIL.  ' ' 

The  expedition  on  which  de  Langlade  was  order- 
ed out  was  very  hazardous,  and  none  but  a  hardy, 


CHARLES    DE    LANGLADE  169 

expert  woodsman  and  a  daring  ranger  could  have 
succeeded.  His  tribes  were  many.  His  Indians 
despised  the  English,  and  dangled  at  their  belts 
many  of  their  scalps;  yet  they  were  to  travel  in  the 
party  of  these  two  companies  of  deserters  and  act 
as  escort  and  protectors.  None  in  all  the  western 
woods  could  have  made  this  possible  but  de  Lang- 
lade.  The  journey  for  several  hundred  miles  was 
beset  by  savages  of  the  Five  Nations  or  Iroquois, 
all  sworn  to  the  English  and  for  many  years  the 
enemy  of  the  French,  and  holding  the  fiercest  en- 
mity to  the  Ottawa  and  other  western  Indians  in 
deLanglade's  party.  These  fierce  Mohawks  and 
Senecas  were  everywhere  on  the  banks  of  the  St. 
Lawrence  and  southern  shore  of  Lake  Ontario. 
Besides  all  these  dangers  that  beset  the  journey 
of  de  Langlade,  the  fleet  of  General  Amherst  was 
crashing  through  the  rapids  only  a  few  days  off. 
In  fact,  de  Langlade  must  have  met  some  of  his 
advance  boats  on  his  first  day's  journey,  for  they 
appeared  in  sight  of  the  city  two  days  after  he 
embarked.  If  any  of  these  boats  saw  his  fleet  of 
canoes  making  up  river  and  should  salute  them 
with  a  broadside  of  grape  shot,  his  journey  wonld 
have  ended  very  soon  after  it  was  begun.  He 
seems  to  have  overcome  all  these  dangerous  ob- 
stacles, at  least  he  arrived  safely  at  his  journey's 
end.  The  river  is  very  wide,  with  many  bays  and 
islands  about  which  they  could  hide  from  an 
enemy,  and  by  running  closely  against  the  left  or 


170  CHARLESDELANGLADE 

northern  bank.  Their  fleet  must  have  consisted 
of  several  hundred  canoes,  and  we  would  not  sup- 
pose they  remained  together  until  after  they  had 
passed  the  squadron  of  General  Amherst.  Five 
days  after  he  had  his  order  to  journey  to  Old 
Mackinaw,  Vaudrueil  had  surrendered  Montreal, 
the  army  and  all  Canada  to  General  Amberst; 
and  the  fleur  de  lis  which  had  floated  over  the 
French  possessions  for  nearly  two  centuries,  was 
hauled  down  never  to  go  up  again,  and  the  stand- 
ard of  St.  George  was  placed  in  the  northern 
breeze  to  fly  until  this  day. 

The  capitulation  was  signed  on  the  eighth  day 
of  September,  1760,  at  Montreal. 

On  the  next  day  the  Governor  sent  a  messen- 
ger flying  after  de  Langlade  with  information 
of  the  events  and  instructions  to  surrender  the 
vast  empire  of  the  west  from  the  little  outpost 
upon  the  northern  point  of  lower  Michigan.  This 
interesting  letter  reads  as  follows: 

Montreal,  ninth  of  September,  1760. 

"I  inform  you,  sir,  that  I  have  to-day  been 
obliged  to  capitulate  with  the  army  of  General 
Amherst.  This  city  is,  as  you  know,  without 
defences.  Our  troops  were  considerably  dimin- 
ished, our  means  and  resources  exhausted.  We 
were  surrounded  by  three  armies,  amounting  in 
all  to  twenty  thousand  and  eighty  men.  General 
Amherst  was  on  the  sixth  of  this  month,  in 
sight  of  the  walls  of  this  city,  General  Murray 


CHARLES    DELANGLADE  171 

within  reach  of  one  of  our  suburbs,  and  the  army 
of  Lake  Champlain  was  at  La  Prairie  and 
Longuell. 

"Under  these  circumstances,  with  nothing  to 
hope  from  our  efforts  nor  even  from  the  sacrifice 
of  our  troops,  I  have  advisedly  decided  to  capi- 
tulate with  General  Amherst  upon  conditions 
very  advantageous  for  the  colonists,  and  partic- 
ularly for  the  inhabitants  of  Michillimackinac. 
Indeed,  they  retain  the  free  exercises  of  their 
religion;  they  are  maintained  in  the  possession 
of  their  goods,  real  and  personal,  and  of  their 
peltries.  They  have  also  free  trade  just  the 
same  as  the  proper  subjects  of  their  King  of 
Great  Britain. 

"The  same  conditions  are  accorded  to  the  mili- 
tary. They  can  appoint  persons  to  act  for  them 
in  their  absence.  They,  and  all  citizens  in  gen- 
eral, can  sell  to  the  English  or  French  their 
goods,  sending  the  proceeds  thereof  to  France,  or 
taking  them  with  them  if  they  choose  to  return 
to  that  country  after  the  peace.  They  retain 
their  negroes  and  Pawnee  Indian  slaves,  but  will 
be  obliged  to  restore  those  which  have  been 
taken  from  the  English.  The  English  General 
has  declared  that  the  Canadians  have  become  the 
subjects  of  His  Britannic  Majesty,  and  conse- 
quently the  people  will  not  continue  to  be  gov- 
erened  as  heretofore  by  the  French  Code. 

"In  regard  to  the  troops,  the  condition  has 
been  imposed  upon  them  not  to  serve  during  the 


172  CHARLES    DELANGLADE 

present  war,  and  to  lay  down  their  arms  before 
being  sent  back  to  France.  You  WILL  THERE- 
FORE, SIR,  ASSEMBLE  ALL,  THE  OFFICERS  AND 
SOLDIERS  WHO  ARE  AT  YOUR  POST.  YOU  WILL 
CAUSE  THEM  TO  LAY  DOWN  THEIR  ARMS,  AND  YOU 
WILL  PROCEED  WITH  THEM  TO  SUCH  SEA-PORTS  AS 
YOU  THINK  BEST,  TO  PASS  FROM  THERE  TO 

FRANCE.  The  citizens  and  inhabitants  of  Mich- 
illmackinac  will  consequently  be  under  the  com- 
mand of  the  officer  whom  General  Amherst  shall 
appoint  to  that  post. 

"You  will  forward  a  copy  of  my  letter  to  St. 
Joseph,  and  to  the  neighboring  posts  in  order 
that  if  any  soldiers  remain  there,  they  and  the  in- 
habitants may  conform  thereto. 

"I  count  upon  the  pleasure  of  seeing  you  in 
France  with  all  your  officers. 

"I  have  the  honor  to  be,  very  sincerely,  Mon- 
sieur, your  very  humble  and  very  obedient 
servant,  VAUDREUIL.'' 

"Signed  in  the  original  draught." 

De  Langlade  seems  now  to  have  been  principal 
in  command  in  the  west,  for  to  him  was  given  the 
unwelcome  duty  of  lowering  the  white  flag  which 
had  been  so  long  held  aloft  on  the  breezes  of 
Lake  Michigan.  It  was  flying  at  the  picket  fort 
when  Charles  de  Langlade  was  born.  It  had 
been  there  ever  since,  saluted  by  all  who  passed 
that  way.  None  in  all  Canada  had  made  such 
brave  and  strenuous  efforts  in  its  defenses  as  the 


CHARLES    DELANGLADE  173 

fearless  warrior  of  the  Monongahela.  He  had 
been  in  arms  for  the  defense  of  his  native  land 
from  the  first  moment  of  attack  to  the  last  mo- 
ment of  its  life. 

No  one  has  told  the  story  of  the  coming-  down 
of  the  last  French  ensign  in  Canada,  or  of  the 
laying  down  of  the  last  gun. 

Every  able  soldier  had  been  to  the  front  and 
had  done  service  for  his  country.  The  Illinois 
and  Mississippi  was  deserted  that  their  people, 
savages  and  borderers  might  be  near  the  front. 
Old  Mackinaw  out  there  on  the  border  of  Lake 
Michigan  with  its  few  inhabitants  held  its  little 
power  over  the  rich  territory,  now  known  as  the 
forests  of  Michigan  with  its  priceless  iron  and 
copper  deposits;  the  great  lakes  Michigan  and 
Superior;  the  hundred  rivers  of  Wisconsin,  its 
forests  and  prairie;  the  rolling  prairie  and  rich 
soil  of  Indiana,  Illinois,  Iowa  and  all  of  the  west 
reached  by  a  voyage  along  the  tomahawk  way, 
the  valley  of  the  Pox  river,  into  the  present  corn 
and  wheat  field  of  the  world.  Here  at  Old  Mack- 
inaw, the  most  westerly  outpost  of  Canada,  in 
command  of  this  rich  country,  now  filled  with 
millions  of  people,  great  cities  and  wonderful 
enterprise,  then  dark  in  forest,  primeval  and 
savage,  there  gathered  in  the  cool  of  the  early 
days  of  winter  near  the  Christmas  time  of  1760,  a 
little  knot  of  battle-scarred  veterans.  They  were 
in  the  great  room  of  the  commander,  lighted  by 


174  CHARLES    DELANGLADE 

a  single  candle,  a  log"  fire  blazing  in  one  end  of 
the  room.  They  were  dressed  in  the  buckskin 
coats  of  the  frontier,  with  moccasins  on  their 
feet.  Their  long  hair  hung  in  shaggy  folds  over 
their  shoulders  and  their  whiskers  were  long1. 
They  were  men  with  eye  alert  for  danger.  They 
had  been  with  their  leader,  Charles  de  Lang-lade, 
through  many  a  hair-breadth  escape  and  fought 
in  many  battles  of  the  war.  These  border  rangers 
had  their  guns  with  them.  Commander  de  Lang- 
lade  rose  and  said  he  had  been  ordered  to  an  un- 
welcome and  painful  task.  He  then  read  the 
order  of  Governor  Vaudreuil  for  the  capitulation  of 
Canada  and  asked  his  companions  to  lay  down 
their  arms,  which  was  done  by  a  motion,  for  as  the 
arms  were  the  personal  property  of  the  men 
themselves,  they  took  them  up  at  once.  Some 
one  was  sent  out  to  haul  down  the  flag.  But  no 
British  flag  was  hoisted  in  its  place  until  the  fol- 
lowing year.  De  Langlade  remained  in  nominal 
command  until  Captain  George  Etherington  was 
sent  out,  who  took  possession  of  the  fort  at  Old 
Mackinaw,  September  28,  1761. 


XVI 

1763.  PONTIAC.  MASSACRE  AT  OLD  MACKINAW. 
DK  LANGLADE  RESCUES  CAPTAIN  ETHERINGTON 
PROM  BEING  BURNED  AT  THE  STAKE 

AFTER  his  affairs  had  been  arranged  and  the 
orders  of  the  Governor  carried  out,  it  was 
the  middle  of  winter,  but  we  suppose  that 
De  Lang-lade  retired  with  his  family  to  their  home 
in  the  little  settlement  at  Green  Bay,  where  he 
traded  with  the  Indians,  and  did  some  hunting 
and  fishing  for  the  enjoyment  of  the  sport.  Many 
congenial  spirits  had  gathered  into  the  small 
hamlet,  and  we  doubt  not  they  all  had  many 
thrilling  stories  to  relate  of  their  experience  in 
the  long  and  desperate  struggle.  None  here  but 
those  who  spoke  the  French  language  or  Indian 
tongue. 

The  Canadians  had  been  engaged  in  this  con- 
test, for  many  years,  with  the  English.  The  com- 
mon people  had  looked  upon  it  as  a  battle  for  the 
fur  trade,  with  their  rivals,  in  the  commerce  of 
the  Indian  and  they  now  felt  very  bitter,  as  they 
now  expected  their  business  and  prosperity 
would  be  wrested  from  them  by  their  enemies. 
In  the  days  which  had  passed  before  the  great 
armies  came,  these  people  in  Green  Bay  and 
Mackinaw  had  become  fondly  attached  to  the 


176  CHARLES    DELANGLADE 

beautiful  western  wilds,  enjoyed  prosperity  and 
life  in  their  simple  way,  and  had  few  events  to 
change  the  even  tenor  of  their  happy  lives.  They 
grew  up  among  the  savages,  intermarried  with 
them,  and  in  dress  and  habits  became  much  like 
the  wilds  in  which  they  lived,  acquiring  that 
keeness  and  watchful  alertness  grown  into  them 
by  the  oftimes  dangers  which  surrounded  them. 
In  these  quiet  times  about  the  little  hamlet  of 
Green  Bay,  whose  log  cabins  surrounded  by  wide 
branching  oak  and  elm  trees,  lay  along  the  quiet 
bank  of  the  Fox  River,  there  was  often  a  charm- 
ing scene  which  gave  zest  and  life  to  the  sleeping 
hamlet.  "One  subject  of  absorbing  interest  dom- 
inated the  French  Creole  life,  and  seems  to  form 
the  sole  incentive  to  letter  writing  in  these  prim- 
itive times.  The  fur  trade,  always  the  fur  trade, 
its  ebb  and  flow,"  beautifully  says  Miss  Deborah 
B.  Martin,  "the  event  of  the  year  was  the  coming 
of  the  voyageurs  from  far  Montreal,  in  autumn, 
when  the  habitants  would  gather  on  the  sand 
points  below  the  log  cabin  home  of  Charles  de 
Langlade,  to  watch  the  batteaux  sweep  in  from 
the  bay.  Amidship  sat  the  manager  of  the  fleet, 
a  master  whose  word  was  law,  while  the  crews  in 
their  gay  covering,  flashed  a  bit  of  vivid  color, 
seen  far  down  the  river.  The  paddles  kept  tune 
with  the  song  that  rose  and  fell,  of  how  Michel 
climbed  a  tree  and  fell  down,  or  of  two  cavaliers 
who  journeyed  together,  one  on  foot  and  one  on 


CHARLES    DELANGLADE  177 

horseback,  with  a  chorus  endless  in  repetition, 
unmeaning1  in  our  prosiac  minds;  but  the  music 
with  its  wild  thrilling1  cadences,  would  charm  the 
heart  and  dim  the  eye  with  tears.  It  was  the  air 
to  which  was  sung  the  couplet  of  the  two  cava- 
liers, which  inspired  Tom  Moore's  Canadian 
Boat  Song: 

'Row,  brothers,  row,  the  stream  runs  fast, 
The  rapids  are  near,  the  daylight  is  past.'  " 

The  great  war  was  over,  and  the  most  conspicu- 
ous place  in  the  rustic  village  was  the  de  Lang-- 
lade trading-  post,  as  the  most  important  man 
in  the  whole  surrounding  wilderness  was  Captain 
Charles  de  Langlade. 

Over  on  the  opposite  side  of  the  river  and  a  lit- 
tle below  the  village  was  the  rotting  ruins  of  the 
old  French  fort.  Some  of  its  log-  cabins  were  used 
by  the  habitants  who  had  grown  too  old  to  tramp 
the  woods  for  game,  now  quietly  smoked  their 
pipes  and  sipped  their  wine  in  front  of  the  cabin 
in  the  cool  of  the  evening,  and  tilled  a  small 
garden  of  onions  and  beans. 

In  the  fall  of  the  following  year,  Captain  Bel- 
four  who  had  come  up  to  Old  Mackinaw  with 
Captain  George  Etherington,  the  last  of  the  pre- 
vious month,  set  off  with  canoes  and  bateaux 
filled  with  soldiers,  provisions,  cannon  and  muni- 
tion, crossed  the  northern  end  of  Lake  Michigan, 
and  entered  Green  Bay,  on  October  12,  1761. 


178  CHARLES    DELANGLADE 

The  mixed  inhabitants  of  the  secluded  village 
rushed  to  the  bank  to  see  the  strange  sight,  as 
the  fleet  with  the  English  flag  aloft,  wound  about 
through  the  serpentine  channel  of  the  river's  out- 
let, scaring  up  black  clouds  of  wild  duck,  as  they 
slowly  crawled  through  three  miles  of  weeds  and 
tall  tasseled  wild  rice  to  the  landing,  where  the 
rotting  pickets  of  the  old  fort  almost  met  the 
waters  of  the  river.  The  strangers  took  posses- 
sion of  the  remains  of  the  old  French  Port  and 
hoisted  the  red  flag  of  St.  George  for  the  first 
time  in  the  domain  of  the  future  state  of  Wiscon- 
sin. They  found  the  fort  "quite  rotten,  the 
stockade  ready  to  fall,  and  the  houses  without 
cover."  They  immediately  set  to  work  and  re- 
paired the  ancient  ruin  and  rechristened  it  Port 
Edward  Augustus.  It  was  due  to  Captain  de 
Langlade  that  the  English  garrison  made  a  peace- 
able entry,  unmolested  by  the  savages,  who 
naked  and  painted,  watched  with  immovable 
countenance,  their  entry.  De  Langlade  made  his 
savage  neighbors  and  friends,  the  wild  Menomo- 
nee  and  warrior  Winnebagoes  to  understand,  that 
now  the  country  had  surrendered,  they  should 
make  the  best  of  it,  and  live  peaceably  with  the 
English  who  now  governed  the  land.  Their 
inclination  was  contrary  to  this  advice;  but  they 
accepted  the  situation  and  were  ever  after  while 
their  flag  was  master  the  faithful  allies  of  the  Eng- 
lish; even  refusing  to  join  Pontiac's  conspiracy 


CHARLES DELANGLADE  179 

against  them.  The  Post  at  Green  Bay  was  under 
the  orders  of  the  commander  at  Old  Mackinaw. 

Two  days  after  their  arrival,  Captain  Belfour 
departed,  leaving  the  command  to  Lieutenant 
James  Gorrell,  with  a  sergeant,  corporal,  fifteen 
privates,  a  French  interpreter  and  two  English 
traders. 

This  was  a  force  of  twenty  combatants.  Sir 
William  Johnson,  head  of  the  Indian  department, 
had  told  Gorrell  that  unless  he  did  everything  in 
his  power  to  please  the  Indians,  he  had  better  re- 
main away.  He  had  not  been  well  supplied  with 
gifts  for  the  savages,  so  he  used  the  wampum,  he 
had  received  from  the  Indians,  in  making  new 
wampum  belts,  which  he  gave  to  other  tribes 
when  his  bead  supply  was  exhausted.  On  May 
23,  1762,  Gorrell  held  a  Council  with  the  Menomo- 
nee  and  Winnebagoes,  at  which  he  recommended 
them  to  the  English  traders,  he  had  brought  with 
him.  It  was  the  advent  of  these  English  traders, 
which  made  much  ill  feeling  among  the  French 
habitants,  who  were  all  entirely  interested  in  the 
Indian  trade,  which  is  called  the  Fur  trade,  as 
furs  were  the  only  merchandise  which  the  Indi- 
an had  to  offer  for  goods.  The  coming  of  these 
English  traders  all  through  the  west,  immedi- 
ately after  the  war,  was  the  occasion  of  the 
hatred  of  the  Canadians,  and  induced  their  ex- 
citement of  the  savages  to  join  the  Pontiac  Con- 


180  CHARLESDELANGLADE 

spiracy,    which   soon  set  the  west  on  fire,    and 
swept  their  rivals  to  ruin  and  death. 

Soon  after  Captain  George  Etherington  settled 
at  Mackinaw,  he  invited  all  the  French  living 
there  and  at  La  Baye  to  call  on  him  and  confer  as 
to  the  best  methods  to  pursue,  in  his  government, 
and  also  as  to  his  management  of  the  Indians. 
He  also  desired  all  to  take  the  oath  of  allegiance. 
All  this  was  very  desirable  to  make  his  conduct 
of  affairs  pleasant,  and  inspire  the  people  and 
natives  with  confidence  in  his  policy.  Charles  de 
Langlade  and  his  father,  Augustin,  journeyed 
from  Green  Bay  to  Mackinaw,  we  suppose  in  the 
spring  of  1762,  on  this  invitation,  accompanied  by 
their  wives  and  children,  and  several  Paunee 
slaves,  who  belonged  to  them.  The  visit  was 
very  agreeable  to  all,  and  had  the  best  results. 
Captain  Etherington  received  Lieutenant  de 
Langlade  and  family,  with  extreme  kindness,  and 
did  everything  in  his  power  to  make  their  visit 
pleasant,  and  win  them  over  to  the  support  of 
his  authority,  in  which  he  was  agreeably  success- 
ful. He  asked  Charles  de  Langlade  to  continue 
in  the  office  of  Superintendent  of  Indian  affairs 
at  Green  Bay,  and  to  accept  the  post  of  Captain 
of  militia,  which  de  Langlade  accepted;  and  con- 
tinued under  the  new  government  the  offices  held 
under  the  old,  and  was  faithful  to  his  charge. 
De  Langlade  was  the  more  sensible  of  this 
double  favor  and  confidence,  because  it  was  en- 


CHARLES    DELANGLADE  181 

tirely  unexpected.  He  would  now  wear  the  uni- 
form of  the  English,  which,  though  it  was  not  as 
he  would  wish  it,  his  beloved  Prance  having-  lost 
their  rich  possessions,  it  was  the  most  rational 
thing1  for  him  to  do.  He  would  not  love  his  own 
countrymen  the  less,  and  could  do  better  by  them, 
with  some  authority,  than  otherwise. 

In  the  fall  and  winter  of  1763,  Pontiac  the  great 
chief  of  the  Ottawa,  whose  village  was  above 
Detroit,  and  who  had  become  also  a  chief  of  a 
band  of  Wyandotts  or  Hurons  of  the  eastern 
bank  of  the  river,  and  of  Pottawatomies  and 
O  jib  was  near  Detroit;  and  who  was  a  cruel,  intel- 
ligent and  eloquent  savage,  visited  a  number  of 
tribes  and  represented  to  them  that  the  English 
had  come  to  take  their  lands,  and  drive  them 
away.  That  their  French  father  had  been 
asleep,  but  was  now  waking  up  and  was  crossing 
the  sea,  with  a  great  army  to  drive  the  English 
away.  He  urged  them  to  take  up  the  tomahawk 
in  defense  of  their  hunting  grounds  and  drive  the 
English  from  the  land.  The  alarm  spread  among 
all  the  tribes.  He  sent  runners  out  with  the  black 
war  belt  and  his  speech.  The  great  conspiracy 
was  kept  very  secret.  It  was  arranged  to  make 
an  attack  on  every  military  post  west  of  the 
Mountains  at  the  same  time,  at  a  certain  change 
of  the  moon  in  the  month  of  May,  1763. 

The  savage  outbreak  was  everywhere  so  sud- 
den, that  hundreds  were  murdered.  The  garrison 


182  CHARLES    DELANGLADE 

at  St.  Joseph  (now  South  Bend,  Indiana),  was 
taken  by  surprise;  as  also  was  that  at  Miami  on 
the  Maumee  and  Ouitanon  (Wea)  on  the  Wabash; 
Ports  Sandusky,  Venango  and  Le  Boeuf  were 
burned  and  the  garrisons  killed  or  captured; 
Presque  Isle,  now  Erie,  was  captured  after  a  des- 
perate resistance  and  most  of  the  garrison  mur- 
dered. Detroit  and  Port  Pitt  were  besieged  for 
more  than  a  year.  The  frontiers  of  New  York, 
Pennsylvania  and  Virgina  were  swept  with  fire 
and  tomahawk,  and  the  defenseless  settlers  flee- 
ing from  the  horrors  of  Indian  massacre.  The 
war,  which  lasted  for  over  two  years,  created 
wide-spread  horror  and  destruction,  was  not  end- 
ed until  the  English  had  marched  an  army  to  the 
far  outposts  of  Kaskaskia  and  Cahokia,  and  raised 
the  red  flag  on  the  banks  of  the  Mississippi  river. 

The  war  belt  had  been  sent  to  all  the  tribes  in 
the  future  Wisconsin,  and  far  out  on  the  plains  to 
the  Sioux.  There  was  an  Ojibwa  (Chippewa) 
band,  whose  villages  were  at  Thunder  Bay,  above 
Detroit,  and  on  Mackinac  Island,  and  an  Ottawa 
band  at  L'Arbre  Croche,  to  both  of  whom  the  belt 
had  been  sent  and  accepted. 

Of  all  these  occurrences  during  the  winter  and 
spring  of  1763,  Charles  de  Langlade,  then  at  La 
Baye,  was  aware.  He  had  been  told  everything. 
The  French  were  not  to  be  injured.  It  is  perhaps 
true  that  many  of  the  Canadians  were  friendly  to 
the  uprising,  and  some  of  th  em  with  some  renegade 


CHARLES    DELANGLADE  183 

English  deserters,  were  in  active  sympathy  with 
Pontiac's  plans.  But  de  Langlade  was  not. 

In  the  spring-  de  Lang-lade  went  with  his  father 
and  family  to  Old  Mackinaw  and  informed  Cap- 
tain Etherington  that  the  Indians  were  proposing 
an  attack,  and  advising  him  to  be  on  his  guard. 
He  explained  in  detail  the  wide  extent  of  the  con- 
spiracy, and  that  both  the  Ojibwa  and  Ottawa 
had  espoused  the  cause  of  Pontiac. 

Etherington,  an  incompetent  officer  and  not  ac- 
quainted with  the  treacherous  nature  or  cun- 
ning of  the  Indians,  did  not  credit  the  story  told 
him  by  de  Langlade.  However,  after  de  Lang- 
lade  had  repeated  the  information  to  him  several 
times,  Captain  Etherington  sent  for  Matcheke- 
wis,  the  great  chief  of  this  band  of  Ojibwas. 

This  was  a  bold,  reckless  savage,  of  bloody  in- 
stincts and  implacable  hatred  of  the  English. 
His  home  was  at  the  little  village  on  Thunder 
Bay,  to  the  east  of  Mackinaw  Port. 

In  the  interview  with  him,  the  wily  savage  de- 
nied all  knowledge  of  any  bad  feeling  and  ex- 
pressed his  love  for  the  "Sagonash,"  which  is 
the  Indian  name  for  the  English. 

The  messengers  of  Pontiac  had  been  at  the  vil- 
lage of  Matchekewis  several  months  before, 
bearing  the  black  and  purple  wampum,  beaded 
war  belts.  Appearing  before  the  assembled  war- 
riors, they  had  flung  the  red  hatchet  at  their  feet, 
and  in  the  rich  eloquence  of  the  forest  bred  tongue 


184  CHARLES    DELANGLADE 

of  the  savage,  delivered  the  speech  of  Pontiac. 
The  band  greeted  their  words  with  applause,  and 
the  woods  echoed  with  their  war  whoop,  and 
raising  the  blood  red  tomahawk,  they  all  pledged 
themselves  to  join  the  war. 

News  of  all  this  came  to  Charles  de  Langlade, 
and  he  repeated  it  to  the  over-sensitive  English 
commandant;  but  who  was  too  confident  of  his 
own  importance  to  believe  such  a  thing  was  pos- 
sible of  such  innocent  appearing  Indians  as  those 
he  saw  about  him.  After  Charles  de  Langlade 
had  been  to  Captain  Etherington  repeatedly,  with 
the  complete  story  of  the  savage  conspiracy,  he 
was  finally  informed  by  Captain  Etherington: 
"Mr.  de  Langlade,  I  am  weary  of  hearing  the 
stories  you  so  often  bring  me;  they  are  the  fool- 
ish twaddle  of  old  women,  and  unworthy  of  be- 
lief; the  Indians  have  nothing  against  the  Eng- 
lish and  cherish  no  evil  designs;  I  hope  there- 
fore that  you  will  not  trouble  me  with  any  more 
such  stuff." 

' 'Captain  Etherington,"  said  de  Langlade,  "I 
will  not  trouble  you  with  any  more  of  these  old 
women  stories,  as  you  call  them,  but  beg  you  will 
remember  my  faithful  warnings." 

On  the  thirteenth  of  April,  Charles  de  Lang- 
lade. with  his  father  and  family,  desiring  to  re- 
turn to  La  Baye,  were  given  the  following  pass- 
port by  Captain  Etherington. 


CHARLES    DELANGLADE  185 

MlCHILLIMACKINAC,  April  13,  1763. 

"I  have  this  day  given  permission  to  Messrs, 
de  Lang-lade,  father  and  son,  to  live  at  the  post 
of  La  Baye,  and  do  hereby  order  that  no  person 
may  interrupt  them  in  their  voyage  thither  with 
their  wives  and  children,  servants  and  baggage. 
GEO.  ETHERINGTON,  Commandant." 

Though  this  passport  was  obtained,  doubtless, 
with  the  intention  on  his  part  to  return  to  his 
affairs  at  La  Baye,  he  did  not  go  away  from  Mack- 
inaw. Perhaps  he  was  induced  to  remain  to  be 
of  service  to  the  whites  when  the  impending  blow 
was  struck,  which  he  knew  was  bound  to  occur 
very  soon.  The  intended  surprise  and  massacre 
of  the  garrison  was  common  knowledge  among 
the  French  Canadians,  and  half  breeds  at  the  set- 
tlement, and  a  number  of  them  informed  the 
commandant  and  some  of  the  soldiers  and  the 
four  English  traders.  Alexander  Henry,  the  Eng- 
lish trader,  had  been  told  of  it  by  his  Indian 
adopted  father,  and  he  had  informed  Ethering- 
ton.  The  day  before  the  massacre,  this  Indian 
and  his  squaw  had  begged  Henry  with  tears  and 
entreaties  to  flee  with  them,  but  he  scarcely  cred- 
ited the  disaster  that  was  to  overtake  him.  A 
Canadian  trader,  Laurent  Ducharme,  made  urgent 
appeals  to  Captain  Etherington  to  be  on  his  guard 
against  the  threatened  treachery.  The  Captain 
not  only  refused  to  believe  his  story,  but  ordered 
him  not  to  come  near  him  again.  Finally  the 


186  CHARLES    DELANGLADE 

Commandant,  in  his  self-importance  and  blind 
belief  in  the  friendliness  of  the  Indians,  threat- 
ened to  send  to  Detroit  as  prisoners  anyone  who 
should  disturb  his  pleasant  dreams  with  such  tid- 
ings of  Indian  treachery. 

The  traveler  coming  to1  Old  Mackinaw  or  as 
then  called,  Port  Michillimackinac,  one  hundred 
and  forty  years  ago,  saw  the  beach  lined  with 
canoes  and  before  him  thirty  or  more  white  log 
cabins  along  the  shore  beyond  the  palisade  of  the 
fort.  The  British  flag  swung  on  the  breeze  from 
the  wooden  bastions.  Within  the  Fort  stood 
numerous  log  buildings,  used  for  officers  quarters, 
barracks  for  the  soldiers,  stores  and  stables,  all 
surrounded  by  the  tall,  log  palisade.  Back  from 
the  clearing  occupied  by  the  corn  fields  and 
gardens  of  the  habitants  rose  dark  and  threaten- 
ing, the  tall  forests  of  spruce,  pine  and  elm. 
There  were  thirty  English  soldiers,  officers  and 
traders  within  and  about  the  fort. 

Pontiac  had  commenced  the  long  and  bloody 
struggle,  the  seventh  of  May,  by  surrounding 
Detroit  with  his  swarms  of  savage  cut  throats 
and  the  news  of  his  defiance  had  spread  over  the 
land  and  the  savage  war  whoop  was  heard  from 
the  Mississippi  to  the  Delaware  river.  The  en- 
tire Algonkin  savage  hoard  were  on  the  war  path 
joined  by  the  Senecas  and  Hurons. 

Before  the  end  of  May  the  news  came  to  the 
Ojibwas  at  the  north  and  the  Ottawa  of  L'Arbre 


CHARLES    DELANGLADE  187 

Croche.  There  was  great  excitement  among  them. 
The  Ojibwas  from  all  about  the  northern  end  of 
the  peninsular,  began  to  move  toward  the  post 
at  Mackinaw.  Some  by  canoes,  some  by  trail 
through  the  deep  forest.  The  band  over  on  the 
Island  of  Mackinac  pushed  their  frail  barks,  six 
miles,  across  the  strait. 

Many  small  bands,  away  on  the  winter's  hunt, 
began  to  come  in  and  all  headed  toward  the 
settlement  at  Mackinaw.  No  word  was  sent  to 
the  Ottawa  to  the  south  of  their  gathering  and 
intention,  as  doubtless  they  desired  the  wealth 
of  the  plunder  for  themselves  alone.  The  dark 
woods  all  about  the  settlement  swarmed  with 
these  dusky  butchers.  They  moved  about  the 
village  freely,  entered  the  trading  posts,  and 
bartered  for  powder  and  ball,  hatchets  and 
whisky. 

They  swarmed  through  the  interior  of  the  fort, 
and  chatted  pleasantly  with  the  soldiers.  Every 
place  was  open  to  them.  They  were  peaceable 
and  friendly  up  to  the  very  day  of  their  treach- 
ery. The  day  before  their  outbreak,  they  visited 
the  trading  stores  of  Alexander  Henry,  purchased 
knives  and  small  hatchets,  and  often  requested 
to  see  silver  bracelets  and  ornaments,  with  the 
intention  of  learning  their  place  of  deposit,  to 
more  quickly  snatch  them  in  the  pillage  to  occur 
the  next  day.  As  the  day  wore  away,  they  grad- 


188  CHARLESDELANGLADE 

ually  withdrew  to  the  forest,  and  many  of  the 
garrison  saw  the  sun  set  over  the  quiet  waters  of 
Lake  Michigan  for  the  last  time. 

The  next  day  was  the  fourth  of  June,  a  month 
after  Pontiac's  attack  on  Detroit,  well  known  to 
the  French  and  Indians,  but  with  a  fool  hardy 
disbelief,  not  credited  by  Captain  Etherington. 
This  day  was  the  birthday  of  King  George  III, 
and  the  garrison  was  to  have  their  usual  celebra- 
tion of  that  event.  The  Ojibwa  had  proposed  to 
the  Captain  to  join  in  the  celebration,  by  giving 
the  garrison  an  entertainment  of  an  exhibition 
game  of  Baggattawa,  or  the  Indian  game  of  ball, 
known  as  La  Cross,  which  is  much  like  modern 
foot  ball,  onl  the  ball  is  tossed  from  a  golf  stick 
with  a  spoon  in  the  end  with  which  to  pick  up 
the  ball,  which  by  a  dexterous  swing  is  sent  swift- 
ly toward  tall  crosses  at  either  goal.  A  great 
crowd  participate  in  the  game. 

The  dissembling  of  the  savages  is  as  marvelous 
as  the  fatal  infatuation  of  the  Commandant.  It 
was  to  be  a  great  fete  day  in  Mackinaw. 

The  morning  sun  rose  warm  and  brilliant.  The 
surrounding  trees  dressed  in  long  tassels,  or  wide 
figured  sprays,  gave  a  rich,  green  background  to 
the  quiet  waters  of  the  lake  and  the  peaceful 
little  village,  along  the  shore.  The  ground  about 
was  white,  purple  and  red  with  its  carpet  of  wild 
flowers.  All  nature,  with  its  song  birds  was  to 
enjoy  the  fete.  The  over-presumption  of  the 


CHARLES DELANGLADE  189 

Captain,  permitted  no  caution  or  guard  against 
the  fate  in  store  for  the  garrison  on  that  beauti- 
ful day.  The  savages  had  planned  their  designs 
carefully.  Their  knives  and  tomahawks  were 
concealed  under  the  blankets  of  their  women,  who 
lounged  about  the  gates  and  within  the  fort. 
The  cannon  from  -early  morn  boomed  frequently 
in  honor  of  the  event.  The  soldiers  were  all  off 
duty.  All  were  unsuspicious  of  treachery.  The 
swarm  of  half -naked  savages  with  feathers 
through  their  nose  and  hair,  bodies  painted  in 
fantastic  colors,  horse  tails  and  scalps  dangling 
at  their  belts,  writh  La  Cross  bats  in  their  hand, 
came  straggling  in  early,  and  took  their  places 
in  the  wide,  cleared  campus,  before  the  fort.  The 
soldiers  stood  about  the  gates,  at  the  windows  or 
on  the  buildings  to  obtain  a  good  view  of  the 
great  game.  Captain  Etherington  and  Lieutenant 
Leslie  sat  on  benches  out  a  distance  from  the 
fort  in  reckless  disregard,  with  no  manner  of 
caution.  The  game  was  to  be  played  by  the 
Ojibwa  on  one  side,  and  the  Sac  of  the  Wisconsin 
River  on  the  other  side.  A  band  of  these  gypsies 
of  the  Wisconsin  forests  had  come  up  a  few  days 
before,  in  opportune  time  to  join  in  the  stratagem 
of  the  Ojibwa.  With  ^:he  true  sporting  instinct 
of  an  Englishman,  the  Captain  had  made  wagers 
that  the  Ojibwa  would  win.  The  game  proceeded 
with  great  spirit  and  skill.  The  hundreds  of 
savages  contested  the  goal  of  their  respective 


190  CHARLESDELANGLADE 

sides  with  the  most  unbounded  enthusiasm,  and 
every  point  gained  by  either  side  was  cheered 
lustily.  The  Canadians  came  out  and  watched 
the  game,  admired  the  excellent  playing  and 
wondered  how  they  could  disguise  their  designs 
so  completely.  The  players  surged  back  and 
forth  for  hours,  amid  great  cheering  and  excite- 
ment, from  morning  until  the  sun  was  high  in  the 
heavens,  at  midday,  when  suddenly  the  ball  flew 
high  in  the  air,  curved  over  the  heads  of  the 
players,  and  landed  inside  the  fort.  This  was  the 
signal  all  the  savages  had  been  waiting  for,  and 
was  the  act  of  their  stratagem,  which  was  to  give 
them  quick  and  unsuspecting  entry  through  the 
wide  open  gates  of  the  defenseless  fort.  The 
eyes  of  three  hundred  warriors  followed  the  ball, 
and  as  it  came  down,  their  savage  yell  rose  on 
the  air,  and  the  whole  fiendish  rabble  surged  to 
the  fort.  The  squaws  were  there  to  furnish  their 
knives  and  tomahawks,  which  they  quickly 
seized  and  joined  by  the  lounging  chiefs,  not  in 
the  game,  the  whole  garrison  was  at  their  mercy. 
Charles  de  Langlade  and  family  were  in  their 
own  home  watching  the  game  through  the  win- 
dows, which  gave  them  a  clear  view  of  the  scenes 
in  front  of  the  fort.  They  heard  the  war  whoop 
and  saw  the  savage  onset.  The  English  were 
taken  by  surprise  and  without  arms  or  means  of 
defense.  The  spectators  without  the  fort  were 
assailed  and  as  the  Indians  rushed  into  the  fort, 


CHARLES    DELANGLADE  191 

all  was  carnage  and  scalping.  Both  Etherington 
and  Leslie  were  seized  and  carried  into  the  woods. 
Within  the  fort  the  slaughter  was  without  mercy. 
They  furiously  cut  down  and  scalped  the  English. 
Alexander  Henry  saw  several  of  his  countrymen 
fall  and  struggling  between  the  knees  of  their 
captors,  who  holding  them  in  this  manner,  tore 
off  their  hair  with  the  scalp  skin,  while  the  vic- 
tims were  still  alive.  Looking  out  through  a 
crack  in  the  roof  of  de  Langlade's  attic,  Henry 
again  "beheld  in  shapes  the  foulest,  the  ferocious 
triumph  of  barbarian  conquerors.  The  dead  were 
scalped  and  mangled;  the  dying  were  writhing 
and  shrieking  under  the  unsatiated  knife  and 
tomahawk;  and  from  the  bodies  of  some,  ripped 
open,  their  butchers  were  drinking  their  blood, 
scouped  up  in  the  hollow  of  their  joined  hands, 
and  quaffed  amid  shouts  of  rage  and  victory." 
Inside  the  fort  the  savages  met  Lieutenant  Jamet, 
who  armed  only  with  his  sword,  "defended  him- 
self like  a  lion,"  against  a  host  of  savages.  He 
slashed  them  right  and  left,  but  their  numbers 
bore  down  on  him,  until  after  he  had  been  cut  the 
thirty-sixth  time,  the  last  blow  of  the  tomahawk 
laid  him  dead  in  the  bloody  courtyard. 

Mr.  Tracy,  an  English  trader,  who  was  going 
down  to  the  beach  to  meet  a  canoe,  just  arrived 
to  learn  the  news,  was  seized  and  tomahawked. 
Eighteen  soldiers  with  Etherington  and  Leslie 
were  held  captives  in  the  woods,  and  with  them 


192  CHARLES DELANGLADE 

were  two  other  English  traders.  Henry  had  hid 
himself  in  the  loft  of  Charles  de  Langlade's 
house.  Savages  came  there  to  look  for  him,  and 
de  Langlade  was  importuned  by  his  wife  to  give 
him  up  to  save  their  own  lives,  by  not  meeting 
the  ill  will  of  the  savages  in  assisting  the  English. 
He  was  not  given  up,  but  the  savages  took  him. 
His  life  was  spared  by  his  adopted  father  men- 
tioned before.  Seven  of  the  English  soldiers 
being  in  a  hut  imprisoned  were  ruthlessly  assas- 
sinated by  a  chief,  who  had  arrived  too  late  to 
take  part,  but  who  wished  to  show  his  sympathy 
with  the  general  massacre.  Seventeen  in  all 
were  murdered. 

One  night,  a  few  days  after  his  capture,  Cap- 
tain Etherington  was  taken  out  before  the  Indian 
camp  and  tied  to  a  tree.  All  the  savages  with 
their  squaws  and  children  sat  about  in  a  circle. 
The  camp  fire  among  the  trees  casting  a  ghostly 
gleam  over  the  unsympathetic  circle.  They  were 
about  to  burn  the  captain  at  the  stake.  Dry 
fagots  and  broken  wood  was  piled  about  the  un- 
fortunate victim.  If  we  knew  his  thoughts  now, 
they  doubtless  would  recur  to  the  oft  repeated 
warning,  which  had  unfortunately  been  too  true. 
He  was  about  to  feel  the  flames  and  be  burned 
alive  as  the  measure  of  his  folly.  The  Ojibwa 
were  just  about  to  apply  the  torch,  when  a  tall, 
manly  figure  with  black,  flowing  locks,  held 
down  with  a  tight  fitting  hunting  cap,  came 


CHARLES    DE    LANGLADE  193 

bounding-  through  the  dusky  circle,  leaped  to  the 
side  of  Etherington,  threw  away  the  fagots,  cut 
the  cords  that  bound  him,  led  him  out  into  the 
circle,  and  demanded  of  them:  "If  you  do  not 
like  what  I  have  done,  I  am  ready  to  meet  you." 
None  dared  take  up  the  glove,  for  they  knew  too 
well  the  metal  of  the  bravest  of  the  brave, 
Charles  de  Langlade. 

A  large  party  of  Ottawa  from  L'Arbre  Croche, 
hearing  of  the  massacre  of  the  garrison,  and  pro- 
voked that  they  had  not  been  apprised  of  the 
intended  attack,  now  came  over  to  the  fort  and 
after  holding  a  council  with  the  Ojibwa  were 
given  some  of  the  booty,  and  a  division  of  the 
prisoners,  when  being  satisfied,  they  took  Captain 
Etherington  and  Lieutenant  Leslie,  with  eleven 
soldiers  of  the  garrison,  and  returned  to  their 
village,  thirty  miles  south,  down  the  shore  of 
Lake  Michigan. 

Before  going  away,  Etherington  had  given  the 
fort  over  to  the  command  of  Charles  de  Langlade. 
Captain  Etherington,  in  his  letter  to  his  superior 
at  Detroit  says:  "I  have  been  very  much  obliged 
to  M.  de  Langlade,  for  the  many  good  offices  done 
us  on  this  occasion."  Etherington  sent  a  note  to 
Lieutenant  Gorrell  at  La  Baye,  to  evacuate  that 
post  and  come  to  him  with  all  their  garrison,  am- 
munition and  the  English  traders.  This  he  did, 
accompanied  by  ninety  friendly  Indians  as  a  guard. 
Hearing  from  Gorrell  that  he  was  coming,  Captain 


194  CHARLES    DELANGLADE 

Etherington  sent  a  message  to  Captain  de  Lang- 
lade,  now  in  command  at  Mackinaw,  to  send  to 
him,  we  suppose,  from  his  private  stores,  twelve 
sacks  of  wheat  flour,  twelve  rolls  of  tobacco,  four 
porcelain  necklaces,  six  pounds  of  vermillion, 
which  was  transmitted  to  him.  These  were  to  be 
used  to  feed  and  treat  the  visiting  friendly  tribes. 
De  Langlade  wasthen  protecting  two  Englishmen, 
whom  Etherington  advised  him  to  try  and  send 
to  him.  Etherington  was  with  his  men  still  a 
prisoner  with  the  Ottawa  at  L'Arbre  Croche, 
located  thirty  miles  south  of  Mackinaw,  and  then 
known  as  the  mission  of  St.  Ignace,  presided  over 
by  the  good  Jesuit  Father  Du  Januay,  who  had 
wonderful  influence  over  these  savages  by  whom 
he  was  greatly  beloved.  This  Jesuit  priest  had 
been  of  material  service  to  the  English  in  this 
great  trial  and  had  even  carried  Etherington's 
message  to  Detroit,  and  brought  back  an  answer, 
that  Major  Gladwyn  could  render  him  no  assist- 
ance. The  message  of  Major  Gladwyn  was  also 
to  de  Langlade,  and  ran  as  follows:  "He  was  to 
present  to  M.  de  Langlade  and  his  interpreter  M. 
Farley  his  compliments  and  thank  them  for  their 

good  offices M.    de    Langlade    was 

authorized  to  command  at  the  Fort,  in  accord- 
ance with  Captain  Etherington's  directons,  till 
further  orders." 

Soon  Gorrell  landed  at  L'Arbre  Croche  with  his 
English  garrison  from  La  Baye,  and  after  numer- 


CHARLES DELANGLADE  195 

ous  conferences  with  the  savages,  it  was  deter- 
mined the  English  should  leave  the  country.  So 
they  took  canoes  and  the  fleet  started  for  Mont- 
real, by  the  Ottawa  river  route,  escorted  by 
friendly  Ottawas. 

Then,  excepting  at  Detroit,  not  an  English  sol- 
dier remained  in  the  region  of  the  great  lakes. 
The  untamed  savage  was  master  of  the  whole 
western  world. 

In  August,  the  following  year,  Captain  Howard 
arrived  with  a  strong  detachment  and  took  pos- 
session of  the  forts  at  Mackinaw  and  La  Baye, 
relieving  Captain  de  Langlade  from  his  thankless 
office. 

Two  savage  chiefs  divide  the  dishonors  of  suc- 
cessfully devising  and  executing  the  plot  to  mas- 
sacre the  garrison  of  Old  Mackinaw.  Alexander 
Henry,  in  his  old  age,  wrote  an  account  of  the 
affair,  from  which  Francis  Parkman  has  assumed 
that  Minawavana,  known  to  the  French  as  La 
Grand  Sauteur,  the  great  Ojibwa,  a  cruel  and 
merciless  savage  of  fifty  years  of  age,  was  the 
bold  leader  of  that  frontier  tragedy.  But  Lyman 
C.  Draper,  Wisconsin's  learned  historian,  who 
had  no  equal  in  his  information  of  Norhtwestern 
history  and  events,  says  it  was  Matchekewis,  an 
equally  cruel  and  brutal  savage  Ojibwa  chief  of 
about  twenty-eight  years  of  age,  who  planned  the 
plot,  and  led  the  Indians  in  the  slaughter  on  that 
sanguinary  occasion.  The  abundance  and  value 


196  CHARLESDELANGLADE 

of  the  authorities  produced  by  Dr.  Draper  must 
decide  the  case  against  Matchekewis  and  convict 
him  of  the  crime.  He  was  subsequently  arrested 
and  sent  to  confinement  in  Quebec,  but  afterward 
released,  given  a  medal  and  showered  with 
favors.  He  joined  the  British  savages  in  the  Rev- 
olution against  the  Long  Knives,  as  the  Ameri- 
cans were  named  by  the  Indians. 


XVII 

1777.  IN  THE  AMERICAN  REVOLUTION,  DE  LANG- 
LADE  LEADS  THE  WESTERN  SAVAGES  TO  JOIN 
BURGOYNE'S  INVASION.  JANE  M'CREA.  BATTLE 

OF  BENNINGTON 

DE  LANGLADE  now  had  a  period  of  rest 
from  wars  and  turmoil  for  nearly  a  dozen 
years.  During"  this  long"  interval  of  peace, 
he  resided  with  his  family,  consisting"  of  his  wife 
and  two  daughters,  in  the  quiet  little  village  of 
La  Baye.  At  this  time  it  was  scarcely  a  village, 
as  it  contained  only  seven  families,  who  with 
their  slaves  and  domestics,  numbered  fifty-six 
people.  There  was  no  priest  or  church,  nor  any 
school  or  schoolhouse.  It  was  simply  a  log 
cabin  camp  in  the  edge  of  the  woods  along  the 
Fox  River.  Mackinaw  was  about  two  hundred 
and  forty  miles  distant  by  water,  a  three  or  five 
days'  journey,  over  waters  often  rolling  in  high 
breakers. 

Mackinaw  contained  a  considerable  population 
of  frontier  French  and  domestics,  for  those  days, 
which  was  estimated  as  over  three  hundred  peo- 
ple. The  priest  lived  either  at  that  post  or  at 
the  mission  of  Point  St.  Ignace,  which  was  then 
located  thirty  miles  south  of  Mackinaw  at  L'Arbre 
Croche.  When  Charles  de  Langlade  wished  his 


198  CHARLESDELANGLADE 

family  to  see  the  priest,  or  to  hear  mass,  the}' 
journeyed  over  to  Mackinaw;  for  it  must  be  said 
of  thede  Langlades,  that  they  were  deeply  imbued 
with  the  sacredness  of  all  the  offices  of  the  Cath- 
olic faith. 

Whenever  de  Langlade  made  his  long  journey 
to  Montreal  to  dispose  of  his  furs  and  renew  his 
stock  of  gay  cloth,  clothing,  beads,  hatchets, 
kettles,  red  blankets,  ear  bobs  and  Lucenbooth 
brooches  for  his  trader  stores,  a  journey  which 
he  made  once  a  year,  his  family  journeyed  with 
him  to  the  more  pretentious  settlement  of  Old 
Mackinaw,  and  enjoyed  the  gayer  society  of  this 
frontier  metropolis,  until  the  return  of  Sieur  de 
Langlade  with  his  fleet  of  well  laden  canoes  from 
their  long  journey  by  lake,  river  and  rapids.  The 
woods  rang  with  the  shouts  of  welcome  and 
greeting  as  the  canoes  swiftly  rounded  to  the 
shore  in  sight  of  the  whole  population.  The 
canoe  being  the  usual  method  of  travel,  these 
people  were  ice-locked  and  snow-bound  for  a  good 
part  of  the  winter,  and  half  the  year,  except 
snowshoeing  in  their  hunting  and  trapping, 
which  was  their  only  winter  activity  outside  of 
their  sports. 

The  discontent  of  the  English  colonies  along 
the  Atlantic  coast  had  constantly  grown  more 
intense  for  a  decade  past,  as  repeated  attempts 
were  made  by  Parliament  and  King  George  to 
impose  burdens  of  taxation  upon  them  against 


COLONEL  A.  S.  DE  PKYSTER 

Though  born  in  New  York,  1736,  yet  as  commander  at  Old  Mackinaw  in  beginning 

of  Revolution,  he  remained  true  to  his  King  and  organized  the  Western 

savages  until  relieved  by  Sinclair,  1780.     Page  199. 


CHARLESDELANGLADE  199 

their  will,  without  permitting  them  a  representa- 
tive in  Parliament.  The  stamps  had  been  burned 
by  the  citizens  in  the  streets  of  New  York,  and 
the  tea  on  which  a  duty  of  one  cent  was  imposed, 
had  been  thrown  off  the  vessels  into  Boston  har- 
bor by  the  angry  populace.  The  whole  popula- 
tion by  this  time  increased  to  over  three  million, 
were  soon  engaged  in  civil  war  at  Lexington, 
and  then  in  a  revolution  which  was  the  birthday 
of  the  great  republic. 

Guy  Carleton  was  Governor  of  what  was  then 
known  as  the  Province  of  Quebec.  This  was  old 
Canada  and  the  region  north  of  the  Ohio  River, 
and  west  of  the  Allegheny  Mountains  to  the 
Mississippi  River.  There  had  been  scarcely  any 
settlement  of  all  this  beautiful  country,  excepting 
as  formerly  about  the  military  posts. 

Along  the  St.  Lawrence,  many  of  the  soldiers 
of  the  old  wars  had  located  and  some  settlements 
began  in  the  rich  lands  north  of  Lake  Erie.  The 
population  of  both  Quebec  and  Montreal,  had  in- 
creased from  fifteen  thousand  to  twenty  thousand, 
yet,  however,  all  this  immense  tract  of  forest  and 
prairie,  almost  two  thousand  miles  in  extent,  was 
primeval  wild,  ranged  by  savage  men  and  savage 
beasts.  Captain  De  Peyster  was  in  command  at 
Old  Mackinaw  of  a  small  band  of  English  soldiers; 
but  no  sentinel's  call,  "All'swell",  wakedtheech- 
oes  of  the  deserted  barracks  of  the  old  French  fort 
at  La  Baye.  The  wind  whistled  through  its  open 


200  CHARLES    DE    LANGLADE 

doors  and  owls  winked  from  its  empty  window 
holes. 

As  the  minute  men  and  militia,  forming  the 
patriot  host,  under  the  supreme  leadership  of 
Washington,  beleaguered  the  English  army  in 
Boston,  the  attention  of  both  the  colonists  and 
England  was  directed  toward  Canada,  for  the 
position  its  people  took  in  the  coming  contest 
was  of  great  importance  to  both  parties. 

Washington  wrote  of  the  armed  expedition 
made  into  Canada:  "I  look  upon  the  interests  and 
salvation  of  our  bleeding  country  to  depend  upon 
your  success."  And  to  Arnold  he  wrote:  "To 
whomsoever  it  (Quebec  and  Canada)  belongs,  in 
their  favor,  probably  will  the  balance  turn.  If  it 
is  in  ours,  success  I  think  will  most  certainly 
crown  our  virtuous  struggles;  if  it  is  in  theirs,  the 
contest  at  least  will  be  doubtful,  hazardous  and 
bloody."  From  England,  Lee  writes  Washing- 
ton: "The  ministerial  dependency  on  Canada  is 
so  great  that  no  object  can  be  of  greater  impor- 
tance to  North  America  than  to  defeat  them 
there." 

Guy  Carleton,  the  Governor  of  Canada,  had 
constantly  reported  that  the  Canadians  were  con- 
tented and  loved  the  English.  Bnt  when  he 
called  for  volunteers  to  repel  the  forces  of  Arnold 
and  Montgomery  who  were  invading  Canada,  he 
was  finally  forced  to  admit,  that,  "There  was 


CHARLES    DELANGLADE  201 

nothing  to  fear  from  them  in  prosperity  and 
nothing-  to  hope  for  in  distress." 

The  Canadians  would  not  so  soon  forget  that 
the  colonies  had  assisted  the  English  to  conquer 
their  country  and  rejoiced  at  their  downfall. 
For  more  than  three  quarters  of  a  century,  there 
had  been  a  bloody  contest  between  the  Canadi- 
ans and  New  England,  and  the  Catholic  Canadi- 
ans could  not  believe  in  the  tolerance  of  the  Puri- 
tan if  he  should  finally  rule  his  country.  The 
Canadian  wras  in  no  mood  either  from  tradition  or 
experience,  to  favor  either  party  and  therefore 
remained  for  the  most  part  neutral. 

There  were  some  among-  them  who  could  feel 
they  were  assisting-,  in  some  degree  helping,  the 
cause  of  old  Canada  by  once  more  joining-  a  war 
against  New  England.  Among  these  was  Charles 
de  Langlade.  So  when  Governor  Carleton  sent 
him  a  commission  of  Captain  in  the  English  army, 
it  found  him  out  on  his  estate  at  LaBaye,  dealing 
in  peltries  with  the  Indians,  and  he  accepted  it. 
This  gave  DePeyster,  the  English  commander  at 
Old  Mackinaw,  great  pleasure,  and  he  recorded, 
that  it  "secured  to  our  interests  all  the  western 
tribes."  Captain  de  Langlade  was  very  soon 
authorized  to  raise  an  Indian  force,  "and  attack 
the  rebels  every  time  he  met  them."  However, 
though  he  drew  the  salary  and  held  the  com- 
mand during  the  whole  of  the  long  contest,  it 
does  not  appear  that  he  felt  much  differently 


202  CHARLESDELANGLADE 

from  the  most  of  the  Canadians,  as  he  seems  not 
to  have  engaged  in  many  contests.  So  far  as  we 
can  discover  he  had  but  a  single  contest  with  any 
American,  and  fought  but  few  battles  during  the 
war,  though  he  did  have  many  experiences  which 
are  interesting  in  themselves. 

In  the  middle  of  the  war,  when  France  plainly 
began  to  aid  America  with  money,  men  and  ships, 
then  the  Canadians  were  swept  by  their  love  of 
their  native  land  into  the  heartiest  friendship  for 
the  struggling  colonists.  The  then  Governor 
Haldimand  of  Canada,  reports  in  June,  1779,  that, 
"the  Canadian  inhabitants,  both  above  and  be- 
low," had  "become  adherents  to  the  united  cause 
of  Prance  and  Americans. "  From  this  time  on 
we  learn  very  little  of  the  exploits  of  Captain  de 
Langlade. 

Captain  de  Langlade  was  over  in  the  lakes 
George  and  Champlain  region  for  General  Carle- 
ton,  acting  as  a  scout  along  the  lakes  and  in  the 
woods  over  the  hills  and  through  the  valleys  of 
that  mountainous  country  during  the  summer  of 
1776.  In  the  fall,  he  was  released  to  return  to 
LaBaye  for  the  winter,  with  a  very  compliment- 
ary letter  from  the  Governor  written  on  the  banks 
of  Lake  Champlain,  in  which  he  informs  Captain 
de  Peyster  of  Old  Mackinaw,  "That  I  have  been 
very  much  satisfied  with  Mr.  Langlade."  ''I 
have  commissioned  Langlade  to  bring  me  down 
two  hundred  chosen  Indians  in  the  spring.  I  send 


CHARLES    DELANGLADE  203 

you  two  medals  and  a  gorget  for  chiefs  whom 
Mr.  Langlade  will  inform  you  of." 

The  employment  of  Indians  was  named  in 
orders  by  "the  King's  Command,"  sent  out  by 
Lord  George  Germain  of  the  Ministry,  in  which 
the  officers  on  the  frontiers  were  given  notice 
that,  "It  is  His  Majesty's  resolution,  that  the 
most  vigorous  efforts  should  be  made,  and  every 
means  employed  that  Providence  had  put  into 
His  Majesty's  Hands  for  crushing  the  rebellion." 

During  the  winter,  de  Langlade  had  obtained 
the  consent  of  the  Menomonee  and  Winnebago 
Indians  to  take  the  war  path  with  him  in  the 
Spring.  DePeyster  wrote  to  Carleton  on  the 
twelfth  of  April,  that  the  season  being  pleasant, 
it  afforded  him  an  early  opportunity  for  sending 
off  goods  to  "Langlade  Indians  at  LaBaye, " 
remarking  that  he  had,  "seen  many  Indians  dur- 
ing the  winter,  who  are  well  inclined;  the  only 
fear  now  is,  not  being  able  to  prevent  the  whole 
country  from  going  down. " 

One  week  later  De  Peyster  sent  the  canoes  of 
goods  for  the  Indians  to  de  Langlade,  at  the  La 
Baye,  which  was  the  first  voyage  made  over  the 
lake  this  spring.  In  the  cargo  there  was  "eighty 
pounds  of  tobacco,  one  sack  of  corn  meal,  two 
barrels  of  'scota  wabo, "  the  Indian  name  for 
whiskey.  There  was  also  a  letter  to  Captain  de 
Langlade,  in  which  he  bids  him  come  with  the 
Indians,  but  he  says  not  "to  wait  for  a  great  num- 


204  CHARLES    DE    LANGLADE 

her,  for  I  believe  we  will  have  too  many  volun- 
teers here,  and  tell  Caron  (Toman)  that  I  shake 
him  by  the  hand,  as  I  also  do  all  my  children  at 
La  Baye. "  Captain  de  Langlade  left  La  Baye,  and 
arrived  at  Old  Mackinaw  with  sixty  Menomonee 
and  Winnebagx>,  where  he  was  joined  by  some 
Ottawa  andOjibwa.  assembled  by  DePeyster,  and 
June  fourth,  the  party  launched  their  canoes  and 
commenced  their  journey  to  Montreal,  leaving 
other  Indians  to  follow  later  as  they  came  up. 
By  this  time  News  had  come  to  De  Peyster  that 
Spanish  agents  had  been  seen  among  the  Indians, 
which  "made  the  Indians  rather  more  difficult  to 
move  than  I  expected,  such  is  their  curiosity 
and  fear."  Within  a  few  days  the  news  was 
confirmed  by  word  from  Milwaukee,  then  a 
small  trading  post,  by  which  it  was  learned 
that  the  Spanish  commandant  at  St.  Louis  had 
sent  a  belt  to  Siganakee,  Chief  of  the  Milwaukee 
mixed  band  of  Indians,  to  raise  all  the  Indians  be- 
tween the  Little  Detroit  in  Green  Bay,  and  the 
Mississippi  river.  And  the  next  day  after  Lang- 
lade's  departure,  of  some  Menomonees  who  came 
up  to  Mackinaw  to  follow  him,  "many  of  them 
shamefully  leaving  Langlade  yesterday." 

''They  took  French  leave  of  me,  or  I  should 
have  sent  them  after  him,  as  I  did  a  party  of 
Winnebagoes  yesterday."  De  Peyster  in  the 
same  dispatch  says:  "Yesterday  arrived  at  Mack- 
inaw, a  number  of  strange  Indians,  all  fine  look- 


CHARLES    DELANGLADE  205 

ing  men  without  one  woman  or  child.  They  de- 
clined going  down  the  country  to  Montreal;  but 
proffer  the  greatest  friendship.  I  shall  have  a 
strict  eye  upon  them."  Nine  days  after  "the  de- 
parture of  Captain  Langlade,"  says  De  Peys- 
ter's  dispatch,  "the  Pottawatamies  arrived  here 
from  St.  Joseph  at  the  foot  of  Lake  Michigan,  to 
the  number  of  fifteen,  who  are  all  either  chiefs  or 
their  sons."  He  sent  them  on  at  once  in  one 
canoe,  "as  Mr.  Langlade  assured  me  you  was 
very  desirous  of  seeing  some  of  that  nation. 
Their  behavior  here  has  been  remarkably  good. 
They  came  under  the  conduct  of  Mons.  Le  Chev- 
allier,  a  man  spoken  very  ill  of  at  Detroit.  I,  how- 
ever, perceive  by  the  great  attachment  these  In- 
dians have  to  him,  that  he  had  better  be  caressed 
at  present.  Chariot,  thelroquois,  came  also  with 
them  and  conducts  them  to  Montreal.  He  speaks 
French  and  is  a  good  subject.  Mr.  Langlade  sent 
him  with  Thierry  to  St.  Joseph  to  raise  the  Potta- 
watamies, where  he  fell  sick,  but  nevertheless  was 
indefatigable  in  bringing  over  those  Indians.  At 
another  time  these  gentry  would  require  a  good 
let  down  for  past  offenses,  and  some  very  recent 
ones,  but  at  present  no  nation  requires  more  ten- 
der treatment.  Their  coming  is,  I  hope,  a  step 
toward  future  good  behavior."  While  writing 
this  dispatch  to  Carleton,  Captain  De  Peyster, 
looking  abroad  over  the  waters  of  Lake  Michi- 
gan, saw  another  party  coming  to  shore,  and 


206  CHARLES    DE    LANGLADE 

then  adds:  "Gautier  at  this  instant  arrived  with 
the  Sacs  and  Foxes.  I  must  therefore  hurry  them 
off  before  they  see  each  other,  as  a  meeting-  will 
be  rather  inconvenient  at  present,  and  may  great- 
ly protract  this  voyage.  Gautier  was  employed 
by  M.  de  Langlade  to  bring  those  Indians  in 
here.  I  can  count  in  the  canoes  to  the  number  of 
thirty- two." 

Four  days  later  DePeyster  having  the  report  of 
Gautier  of  his  journey  into  the  Illinois  country, 
to  raise  the  Sacs  and  Foxes,  reports  to  Carleton: 
"It  appears  from  the  reports  of  every  trader  and 
even  from  Gautier's  enemies,  that  he  was  the 
only  person  who  could  have  raised  the  tribes  in  the 
critical  situation  he  found  things  in  the  Mississippi 
country.  His  indefatigable  industry  to  stop  the 
rebel  belt  and  divert  that  of  the  Spaniards,  shows 
that  he  is  capable. "  He  let  him  lead  the  band  to 
Montreal,  "as  in  so  doing  I  comply  with  the  earn- 
est request  of  the  Indians,  who  declare  they  can- 
not do  without  him,  as  he  speaks  their  language, 
and  is  acquainted  with  their  customs  and  man- 
ners." "The  Rebel  belt  was  forwarded  from  De- 
troit by  the  Ottawa  chief,  Howaggishikee,  and 
the  Spanish  belt  was  in  the  hands  of  M.  Hubert 
of  New  Orleans,  formerly  in  the  French  service. 
The  nature  of  the  latter  is  perhaps  still  a  secret. 
Hubert  said  it  was  to  invite  the  chiefs  of  the  dif- 
ferent nations  to  assemble  at  the  Spanish  fort  at 
St.  Louis,  and  hear  what  their  father  had  to  say. 


CHARLESDELANGLADE  207 

Gautier  told  him  that  the  Indians  on  this  side  of 
the  river  knew  of  only  one  Father  and  must  not 
listen  to  his  message.  He  was  joined  by  several 
traders  in  opposing  Hubert,  who  then  retired. 
The  Spaniards  may  perhaps  want  to  settle  a 
peace  between  our  Indians  and  theirs;  but  any 
talk  with  them  at  present,  would  greatly  alarm 
the  Indians  in  this  quarter,  especially  as  the  Reb- 
els have  so  lately  appeared  in  this  quarter. " 

This  reference  to  the  Rebels,  was  of  an  expedi- 
tion sent  to  New  Orleans,  by  the  government  of 
Virginia  for  powder.  There  were  one  hundred 
men  under  Captain  George  Gibson,  and  Lieut. 
William  Linn,  who  returned  with  the  powder,  in 
1777,  by  the  Ohio  river.  The  appearance  of  this 
party  of  Americans  greatly  excited  the  Indians, 
and  made  them  careful  of  alliances.  The  natural 
dislike  of  the  savage  for  the  English,  was  favor- 
able to  their  easy  excitement  by  all  the  rumors 
set  afloat  among  them  by  the  Spanish,  the  Can- 
adian, and  the  occasional  American.  It  is  not 
strange  that  but  few  of  them  followed,  perhaps 
the  only  captain  in  all  the  west  who  could  engage 
them  in  war  against  the  Americans.  And  we  do 
not  suppose  the  heart  of  Captain  de  Langlade  was 
very  warm  in  the  struggle. 

The  patriots  battling  for  their  liberty  in  the  new 
republic,  saw  the  sun  go  down  on  the  campaign  of 
1777,  with  much  discouragement  and  their  hopes 
nearly  blasted.  The  cities  of  New  York,  and  Phil. 


208  CHARLES    DE    LANGLADE 

adelphia,  their  capitol,  were  in  the  possession  of 
the  English  array ;  the  congress  was  a  fugitive  body ; 
the  national  army  after  successive  defeats,  had 
marched  with  naked  feet,  their  path  a  trail  of 
blood,  to  that  awful  winter  at  Valley  Forge.  But 
there  was  one  great  event  in  this  campaign  to  en- 
liven their  imagination  as  to  the  possibilities  of 
other  similar  events,  General  Burgoyne  and  his 
whole  army  were  taken  prisoners. 

Burgoyne  had  been  sent  out  from  England  in 
the  spring,  and  by  the  twelfth  of  June  his  splen- 
did army  was  concentrated  at  St.  John's,  at  the 
outlet  of  Lake  Champlain.  It  consisted  of  nearly 
eight  thousand  men,  well  equipped.  Half  of  them 
were  British  regulars  with  about  one  hundred 
and  fifty  Canadians,  and  the  other  half  were  Hes- 
sian hired  soldiers.  There  were  forty  pieces  of 
artillery,  the  finest  train  in  America.  He  had 
with  him  .many  savages  of  the  St.  Lawrence 
region  and  at  the  river  Bouquet,  near  Crown 
Point,  he  made  his  celebrated  address  to  four 
hundred  Iroquois  and  Algonkins.  Bancroft  is  in 
error  in  adding  the  Ottawa  to  this  meeting. 

The  English  army  moved  up  the  Lake,  captured 
Ticonderoga,  and  then  marched  south  in  two 
columns,  one  west  of  Lake  George,  and  the  divi- 
sion under  Burgoyne,  landed  and  encamped,  until 
the  last  of  July,  at  Skensborough,  now  Whitehall, 
at  the  south  end  of  Lake  Champlain. 


CHARLES DE LANGLADE  209 

Meantime  Captain  Charles  de  Lang-lade  was 
urging  his  fleet  of  birch  canoes  over  Huron,  Erie 
and  Ontario  Lakes  and  the  St.  Lawrence  river, 
with  his  savages,  and  only  a  few  days  behind 
came  others  to  join  his  clan.  On  the  fourteenth 
of  July,  Governor  Carleton  writes  from  Quebec  to 
Peyster: 

"I  have  received  your  letters  by  Mr.  Lang- 
lade,  and  others,  on  the  subject  of  the  Indians 
sent  down  from  your  neighborhood."  As  de 
Langlade  had  started  on  the  fourth  of  the 
previous  month,  he  could  hardly  have  reached  his 
destination  more  than  a  few  days  earlier  than 
this.  With  him  he  had  the  seventy  Menomonees, 
and  as  he  made  for  Mackinaw  Island  on  his  way, 
he  may  have  picked  up  some  Ojibwa,  now  called 
Chippewa.  Following  him  at  Old  Mackinaw  were 
the  fifteen  Pottawatamies  who  probably  joined 
his  advance  party  early  in  the  journey.  A  few 
days  behind  him  came  the  thirty-two  Sacs  and 
Foxes,  and  the  Winnebagoes,  sent  after  him 
earlier.  We  see  no  report  of  Ottawa  being- 
with  de  Langlade  at  this  time;  but  they  are  re- 
ported to  be  with  Hamilton  at  a  council  held  at 
Detroit,  designed  to  loose  them  against  the  fron- 
tiers of  Pennsylvania.  After  this  party  of  de 
Langlade,  made  up  of  not  more  than  one  hun- 
dred and  thirty  savages,  arrived  in  Montreal,  a 
council  was  held,  the  war  pipe  passed  around,  pres- 
ents and  whiskey  freely  given.  Captain  de  Lang- 


210  CHARLESDELANGLADE 

lade  acted  as  interpreter,  translating  the  talks 
into  the  Chippewa,  which  was  the  most  universal 
language.  A  great  war  feast  was  given  to  the 
the  savages,  at  which  an  ox  was  roasted  whole, 
from  which  these  savages  cut  great  slices  and  ate 
to  their  content,  after  which  they  took  up  their 
tomahawks,  gave  the  war  whoop  and  running  to 
their  canoes,  leaped  into  them  to  commence  their 
journey  to  join  the  army  of  Burgoyne,  at  White- 
hall. There  they  met  La  Corne  St.  Luc  with  some 
of  his  St.  Lawrence  Indian  bands,  the  other  por- 
tion of  whose  party  was  on  the  west  side  of  Lake 
George  following  St.  Claire  on  his  retreat  from 
Ticonderoga.  We  have  detailed  more  particular- 
ly this  band  under  de  Langlade,  because  of  the 
amount  of  criticism  showered  by  all  historians 
upon  the  Burgoyne  expedition  for  its  use  of  the 
savages,  who  as  King  George  said,  were  the 
means  "Providence  had  placed  in  his  hands  to 
subdue  the  rebels."  All  such  events  as  added  to 
the  horrors  of  those  by  the  savage  contingent, 
which  occurred,  prior  to  the  twentieth  of  July  at 
least,  must  be  charged  against  other  than  the 
western  tribes,  though  we  cannot  promise  that 
their  coming  made  the  deeds  of  the  savages  any 
the  less  horrible. 

JANE  M'CREA. 

Burgoyne  had  said  in  his  speech  to  the  savages 
the  previous  month:     "You  shall  receive  compen- 


CHARLES DELANGLADE  211 

sation  for  the  prisoners  you  take, "  so  as  soon  as 
the  western  savages  came  into  the  Whitehall 
camp,  they  sallied  out  to  seek  plunder  and  prison- 
ers. Edmund  Burke,  who  in  his  abhorence  of  the 
employment  of  savages  against  Englishmen,  had 
learned,  "that  the  natural  ferocity  of  those  tribes 
far  excelled  the  ferocity  of  all  barbarians  men- 
tioned in  history,"  was  soon  to  have  most  horri- 
ble evidence  of  its  truth. 

Jane  McCrea,  the  beautiful  and  accomplished 
daughter  of  James  McCrea,  a  Presbyterian  min- 
ister, affianced  to  a  loyalist,  who  was  in  Bur- 
goyne's  camp,  had  come  up  to  the  home  of  Mrs. 
McNeal,  which  stood  in  the  clearing  in  the  up- 
lands, near  Fort  Edwards  on  the  Hudson  river, 
about  thirty  miles  south  of  the  English  camp  at 
Whitehall. 

The  savages  skulked  through  the  woods.  Word 
was  sent  to  Mrs.  McNeal  that  it  would  not  be 
safe  to  remain  there,  and  Lieutenant  Palmer  with 
twenty  men,  was  sent  over  as  an  escort  for  the 
family,  to  aid  them  to  reach  the  American  camp 
in  safety.  While  waiting  for  the  household  goods 
to  be  packed  for  removal,  Palmer  led  his  men  on 
a  scout  in  the  neighborhood  to  seek  the  lurking 
foe,  when  he  fell  into  an  ambush  of  western  sav- 
ages. In  the  sudden  attack,  twelve  of  his  sol- 
diers and  Palmer  himself  were  killed.  Two 
Indians  then  rushed  to  the  house,  seized  Jane 
McCrea  and  Mrs.  McNeal,  mounted  them  on 


212  CHARLESDELANGLADE 

horses  and  flew  toward  the  British  camp.  The 
remaining  soldiers  recovering  from  the  first  on- 
slaught of  the  Indians,  took  after  them  in  time  to 
fire  on  the  fleeing  savages,  as  they  were  hurrying 
away  their  captives.  By  this  fire  Jane  McCrea 
fell.  She  alone  was  sitting  upright,  and  was 
killed,  while  the  Indians  who  Jhrew  themselves 
down  on  the  horses  and  hung  over  on  their  sides, 
escaped  injury,  exclaiming:  "Um  shot  too  high 
for  hit."  One  of  the  Indians,  though  in  rapid 
flight,  grasped  Jane  McCrea  and  scalped  her. 
Mrs  McNeal  arrived  at  the  British  camp  the  next 
day  and  reported  that  she  never  saw  Jane  Mc- 
Crea after  that;  but  after  "my  arrival  in  the 
British  camp,  an  aide-de-camp  showed  me  a  fresh 
scalp  lock,  which  I  could  not  mistake,  because 
the  hair  was  unusually  fine,  luxuriant,  lustrous 
and  dark  as  the  wing  of  a  raven."  .  Miss  McCrea 
was  buried  the  next  day  by  the  soldiers,  who  had 
attempted  her  rescue,  and  who  had  killed  her, 
with  their  careless  shots,  unintentionally.  '  'Three 
bullet  holes  were  found  in  her  body,  but  no  other 
wounds,"  according  to  the  statement  of  Colonel 
Morgan  Lewis,  under  whose  direction  she  was 
buried.  When  many  years  afterward  her  remains 
were  disinterred,  the  skull  was  unbroken;  no  sav- 
age tomahawk  had  ever  been  sunk  in  it,  as  had 
been  so  long  believed."  A  monument  has  been 
erected  near  the  spot  where  she  fell.  Her  sud- 
den death  caused  everywhere  the  deepest  horror 


CHARLES    DELANGLADE  213 

and  indignation,  both  among  the  Americans  and 
in  the  English  camp.  Bryant  says  of  the  unhap- 
py fate  of  Miss  McCrea:  ''The  manner  of  her 
death  was  at  first  uncertain,  but  as  the  horrible 
story  sped  far  and  wide  through  the  country,  the 
romance  of  person,  gathered  about  the  tragic 
incident  of  war,  and  the  feeling  aroused  was  uni- 
versal and  intense She  was  young; 

she  was  beautiful;  she  was  gently  nurtured,  and 
of  high  social  position;  she  was  bethrothed. '' 

"It  was  natural  enough  that  exaggeration 
should  be  accepted  where  there  could  be  so  much 
that  was  sad  and  pitiful. '' 

Auburey  in  his  travels,  published  a  few  years 
later,  remarks  that:  "The  General  showed  great 
resentment  to  the  Indians  upon  this  occasion 
(the  death  of  Miss  McCrea)  and  laid  restraints 
upon  their  dispositions  to  commit  other  enormi- 
ties. He  was  the  more  exasperated  as  they  were 
Indians  of  the  further  tribes  who  had  been  guilty 
of  this  offense,  and  whom  he  had  been  taught  to 
look  upon  as  more  warlike. "  The  western  tribes 
concluded  to  retire  and  demanded  food  and  means 
of  transport.  A  council  was  called,  when  their 
consent  to  remain  was  secured.  Yet,  "notwith- 
standing this,"  says  Auburey,  "to  the  astonish- 
ment of  the  general,  the  desertion  took  place  the 
next  day,  when  they  went  away  by  forces,  loaded 
with  such  plunder  as  they  had  collected,  and 
have  continued  to  do  so  daily,  till  scarce  one  of 


214  CHARLES DELANGLADE 

those  who  joined  us  at  Skeenesborough  is  left." 
Bancroft  remarks  that:  "The  Ottawa  (the  west- 
ern tribes)  longed  to  go  home,  but  on  August 
fifth,  nine  days  after  the  death  of  Jane  McCrea, 
Burgoyne  took  from  all  his  red  warriors,  a  pledge 
to  stay  through  the  campaign." 

BENNINGTON. 

It  seems  very  probable  that  some  of  the  west- 
ern Indians  took  part  in  the  battle  of  Bennington, 
a  few  days  later,  in  which  one  hundred  and  fifty 
Indians  were  engaged.  At  this  place  was  the 
"fabled  magazine"  of  American  stores  of  pro- 
visions, horses  and  cattle,  of  which  Burgoyne 
was  desperately  in  want.  It  was  twenty  miles 
east  of  the  British  line  of  march.  On  the  eleventh 
of  August,  Colonel  Baum  was  dispatched  with 
four  hundred  Brunswickers,  and  a  select  body  of 
British  marksmen,  some  Dutchmen,  with  two 
cannon,  a  party  of  French  Canadians,  some  Col- 
onial royalists,  and  the  horde  of  Indians.  By 
night  of  the  thirteenth,  Colonel  Baum  encamped 
about  four  miles  west  of  Bennington,  on  a  hill  that 
rises  from  the  Walloomscoick  river,  just  within  the 
State  of  New  York.  The  next  morning  on  dis- 
covering a  party  of  Americans,  he  entrenched 
himself,  and  wrote  back  for  reinforcements, 
which  were  sent  on  the  way  through  a  driving 
rain  the  next  day. 


CHARLES    DELANGLADE  215 

Now  General  Stark  left  his  plow,  and  taking- 
Ms  old  fowling  piece,  was  in  the  saddle.  From 
all  directions  the  people  flocked  over  the  hills  to 
his  standard,  set  up  within  a  mile  of  Baum.  Seth 
Warner,  of  Vermont,  came  down  in  the  rain  with 
his  Green  Mountain  boys,  on  the  fifteenth,  from 
Manchester.  When  the  sun  rose  on  the  six- 
teenth, Stark  commenced  his  plan  of  the  day. 
The  foreigners  seeing  parties  of  men  in  shirt 
sleeves,  with  fowling  pieces  without  bayonets, 
steal  behind  their  camp,  mistook  them  for  friend- 
ly country  people  seeking  his  protection.  In 
this  way  five  hundred  Americans  united  in  his 
rear.  While  his  attention  was  distracted  by  a 
false  assault,  two  hundred  more  patriots  posted 
themselves  on  his  right;  and  Stark  with  two  or 
three  hundred  more  remained  in  front.  At  three 
o'clock  Baum  was  attacked  on  every  side  and  the 
bloody  battle  was  on.  The  Indians  dashed  be- 
tween two  detachments,  but  fled  the  field  quickly, 
leaving  their  chief  and  half  their  number  dead. 
New  England  sharpshooters  ran  up  within  eighty 
yards  of  the  cannon  to  pick  off  the  gunners. 
After  a  fierce  contest  for  about  two  hours,  Baum 
ran  short  of  powder;  then  the  Americans  scaled 
the  breastwork  and  clubbing  their  muskets, 
fought  desperately  hand  to  hand.  Baum  ordered 
his  men  to  force  a  way  out  with  bayonets  and 
sabres;  but  he  soon  fell,  mortally  wounded,  and 
his  veteran  command  surrendered.  Just  then 


216  CHARLES    DELANGLADE 

the  battalion  of  Breyman,  sent  out  by  Burgoyne 
to  reinforce  Baum,  having  taken  thirty  hours  to 
march  twenty-four  miles  through  the  forests, 
came  up;  and  Warner  brought  up  his  regiment  of 
Green  Mountain  boys,  which  joined  to  Stark's 
tired  men,  rushed  at  the  new  foe  with  great  spirit 
and  bravery;  turning  the  captured  cannon  on 
their  late  owners.  The  battle  raged  until  sun- 
set when  the  English  abandoned  their  cannon 
and  made  a  precipitate  retreat,  hotly  pursued  un- 
til night.  Those  who  escaped  owed  their  safety  to 
the  darkness.  The  American  loss  was  thirty 
killed  and  forty  wounded.  The  English  loss  was 
double  this  number,  together  with  seven  hun- 
dred prisoners.  "This  victory,  one  of  the  most 
brilliant  and  eventful  of  the  war,"  was  irrepara- 
ble to  Burgoyne.  Most  of  the  Canadians  deserted. 
"The  Indians  of  the  remote  nation  began  to  leave 
in  disgust,"  says  Bancroft.  Here  we  suppose 
that  Captain  de  Langlade,  in  consequence  of 
losing  his  command  by  desertion,  was  released 
from  duty,  as  we  learn  no  more  of  him  in  this 
campaign;  nor  do  we  know  if  he  was  himself  en- 
gaged in  this  battle.  At  least  he  was  not  taken 
prisoner  with  the  army  of  Burgoyne  when  it  soon 
after  surrendered  to  the  Americans  at  Saratoga. 


XVIII 

1778.  DE  LANGLADE'S  RED  WAR  HATCHET  SENT 
AMONG  THE  WISCONSIN  INDIANS  TO  RAISE  THEM 
AGAINST  THE  AMERICANS 

LATE  in  September,  de  Langlade  gathered 
his  scattered  clans  men  at  the  little  trad- 
ing- post  on  the  lake  of  the  Two  Mountains, 
on  the  Ottawa  river,  twelve  miles  above  Mon- 
treal, and  with  Captain  Gautier  de  Verville  and 
other  partisan  leaders,  started  up  this  river 
bound  for  home.  It  was  a  long,  laborious  voyage 
up  the  rapid  river,  over  the  portage  into  the 
French  river;  then  across  Georgian  Bay;  and 
about  the  north  end  of  lake  Huron.  The  air  was 
keen  and  sharp,  and  the  hazy  Indian  summer, 
that  beautiful  season  of  the  fall,  covered  the 
earth  with  warm  days  and  chilly  nights;  and  all 
the  brilliant  colored  hardwood  leaves  mantled 
the  ground  with  a  thick  matting,  when  the  fleet, 
with  song  and  shouts,  woke  the  few  soldiers  at 
the  fort  of  Old  Mackinaw,  and  its  French  Cana- 
dian habitants  flocked  to  the  shore  to  hear  the 
latest  news  from  the  front. 

Here  de  Langlade  remained.  De  Peyster  hav- 
ing orders  from  Governor  Carleton  to  furnish 
five  hundred  savages  for  the  following  summer, 
ordered  de  Langlade  to  summon  them  early  in 


218  CHARLESDELANGLADE 

the  spring.  This  was  a  winters  work  among  the 
natives  of  the  forest  and  stream.  He  had  now 
arrived  at  the  age  of  nearly  fifty  years,  of  a  life 
filled  with  daring  adventure,  and  active  war;  and 
not  feeling  able  to  carry  on  the  extremely  active 
work  necessary,  or  endure  such  hardships,  sent 
his  redoubtable  nephew,  Gautier,  to  arouse  the 
tribes  at  their  winter  quarters.  He  was  half 
Indian,  having  been  born  and  lived  all  his  life 
among  them,  familiar  with  all  their  habits  and 
their  language.  Gautier  set  off  for  the  little  set- 
tlement of  La  Baye,  on  the  sixth  of  November, 
where  he  arrived  after  a  voyage  of  twelve  days, 
"where  I  began,"  he  says,  "to  announce  your 
plans,  which  I  supported  in  Indian  fashion  by 
wampum  belts  and  presents."  He  kept  a  jour- 
nal of  his  winters  work,  by  which  we  can  follow 
him  in  his  exciting  travels  among  the  savages. 
He  sent  out  runners  with  belts  to  the  Menomo- 
nees  and  Winnebagoes  at  their  winter  quarters 
where  they  were  gathering  furs,  on  the  head 
waters  of  the  streams  along  the  Wolf  River. 
Sabacherez,  a  Menomonee,  having  died,  he  had 
him  buried  and  gave  the  relatives  presents  to 
make  favor  with  them.  "Some  beggers  learned 
of  my  arrival  and  did  not  spare  me."  He  set  out 
from  the  Baye  the  last  of  December  to  go  to  the 
Rock  river  in  the  southeastern  part  of  Wiscon-. 
sin,  taking  the  trail  along  the  bank  of  the  Fox 
river,  he  passed  the  present  sites  of  DePere, 


CHARLES    DELANGLADE  219 

Kaukauna  and  Appleton,  along*  the  western 
shore  of  Little  Butte  des  Morts  Lake,  where  the 
trail  wound  past  the  high  earth  mound  called 
the  "Hill  of  the  dead."  At  the  end  of  the  lake 
he  crossed  the  Fox  river,  on  to  an  island  (now 
Doty  Island  at  Menasha)  at  the  foot  of  Lake 
Winnebago,  where  he  came  up  to  the  ancient  vil- 
lage of  the  Winnebago,  where  the  squaw  queen, 
Glory  of  the  Morning,  was  then  the  chiefess. 
Here  with  some  Winnebago  chiefs,  he  left  some 
war  belts,  and  with  a  trader,  Sieur  Lisse,  "a  belt 
with  a  runner  for  the  Menomonee  Indians  and 
another  for  Milwaukee."  After  a  wait  of  three 
days  he  continued  his  journey  through  the  oak 
openings.  After  ten  days,  he  "fell  upon  a  lake," 
Koskenong,  where  there  were  "two  villages, 
whose  inhabitants,  one  of  one  hundred  Winnebago 
and  the  other  two  hundred  Sacs,  had  left  for  win- 
ter quarters;"  and  the  next  day  which  was  the 
middle  of  January,  he  arrived  at  the  Rock  river, 
at  the  place  where  he  hoped  to  find  the  aborigi- 
nals he  sought,  but  the  village  was  deserted. 
He  then  struck  out  across  the  prairies  to  the 
west,  for  about  one  hundred  miles  over  snow  to 
Prairie  du  Chien,  "and  at  all  little  lodges  I  met, 
I  announced  your  plans."  There  he  found  a 
mixed  party  of  savages  who  had  come  to  meet 
him,  "who  had  very  little  to  eat."  Here  was  a 
small  settlement  of  traders  and  habitants  on  the 
flat  shore  of  the  Mississippi  river,  below  the  high 


220  CHARLES    DE    LANGLADE 

rock  walls,  which  enclosed  the  great  river  for 
miles  along  its  northern  course.  He  dispatched 
runners  among  the  Sioux  with  the  war  belt,  and 
entreated  them  to  bury  the  hatchet  against  the 
Sac  and  Pox,  a  peace  necessary  for  the  success 
of  his  mission.  He  sent  word  also  to  all  the  tra- 
ders enlisting  them  in  his  service,  to  aid  in  raising 
the  Indians.  The  band  of  Sacs  and  Foxes  who 
had  returned  with  him  from  Montreal  were 
shivering  with  the  cold  of  midwinter,  and  with 
their  families,  were  "sick,  tired  and  nearly  frozen 
as  they  had  left  their  things  at  La  Baye."  For 
their  relief  he  used  the  credit  of  the  Crown  among 
the  traders. 

The  last  of  January  he  commenced  a  journey 
up  the  river  to  the  Sioux,  arriving  in  a  fortnight 
at  the  Saint  Croix  river,  where  he  learned  the 
Sioux  were  wintering  on  its  head  waters,  with 
some  Winnebagoes,  who  had  become  anxious  for 
their  brothers  who  had  not  returned  from  Mon- 
treal, "thinking  they  were  dead,  and  in  virtue  of 
this,  they  wanted  to  kill  Sieur  Robert,  a  trader, 
because  he  was  an  Englishman,"  to  whose  cabin 
he  proceeded,  "to  quiet  this  tumult, "  where  he 
arrived  just  in  time  to  save  the  traders  life.  He 
then  dispatched  runners  "to  seek  Sabache,  a 
great  Sioux  Chief,  and  another  to  go  among  the 
Chippewa  of  Manominikara  with  belts  and  the 
customary  presents."  He  invited  the  Chippewa, 
"to  come  and  see  him,  promising  them  peace 


CHARLES    DELANGLADE  221 

with  the  Sioux."  He  heard  it  said  that  the  Sioux 
of  St.  Peter  river  (Minnesota)  were  assembling 
to  go  to  war  against  the  Chippewa,  "and  sent 
runners  to  them  to  keep  quiet,"  and  come  to  him; 
from  which  message  he  had  reply  from  Sabache, 
the  Sioux,  that  "they  were  going  to  be  with  me 
in  five  days."  In  a  few  days,  more  trouble  came 
to  him,  as  on  the  morning  of  the  twenty-second 
of  February,  there  came  trooping  into  his  camp, 
"from  Terra,  nine  lodges  of  Winnebago  to  leave 
their  wives  and  children,  and  to  depart  straight- 
way to  go  and  fall  upon  the  Chippewa,  to  avenge 
the  death  of  a  Winnebago,  whom  they  had  killed 
last  summer  by  accident  at  Buffalo  Lake,"  in  the 
Pox  River  of  Wisconsin.  "This  would  have  been 
a  war,  which  all  the  nations  of  the  Mississippi 
would  have  engaged  in,  if  I  had  not  checked  it," 
and  he  lavished  presents  on  the  warriors,  suc- 
ceeding at  some  cost  in  stopping  the  war  party. 
The  last  of  the  month,  the  Chippewa  came  in 
from  Manomanisk,  in  the  wilderness  of  western 
Wisconsin.  He  held  a  great  council  with  them. 
Rising  upin  their  midst  he  pronounced  this  speech : 
"My  brothers,  I  announce  to  you  on  the  part  of 
your  father,  that  if  you  do  not  hasten  to  see  him 
this  year,  you  will  make  him  think  that  you  are 
not  his  children  and  he  will  be  angry.  He  has  a 
long  arm  and  very  large  hands.  He  is  good.  He 
has  a  good  heart,  when  his  children  listen  to 
him.  He  is  bad,  he  is  terrible;  he  sits  in  judg- 


222  CHARLES    DE    LANGLADE 

ment  on  all  the  Indians  and  French."  Having 
finished  he  passed  the  belt  to  the  chief  and 
offered  the  pipe  to  each  warrior,  who  took  a 
whiff  and  returned  it.  Then  the  tall  Chippewa 
rose  up  and  made  reply: 

"It  is  good  that  you  tell  us  what  our  father 
has  told  you  to  tell  us.  I  am  a  chief.  I  hope  to 
go  see  him  two  times  this  spring.  I  know  that 
some  chiefs  are  good,  and  strong,  some  bad;  but 
that  they  can  and  will  all  go." 

More  trouble  came  to  him,  as  one  day  a  Sioux 
rushed  in  and  reported  that  the  Chippewa,  at 
their  winter's  camp  with  some  Sioux,  had  given 
them  some  poisoned  oil,  which  made  the  Sioux 
sick;  but  he  quickly  mended  this  breach  with 
presents.  The  Winnebago  lost  a  tribesman  by 
drowning,  and  he  was  obliged  to  pacify  their 
grief  by  numerous  presents,  which  he  considered 
important,  as  "his  family  was  composed  of  six 
persons. " 

The  great  Sabacbe  arrived  with  twenty  war- 
riors, when  Gautier  left  his  camp  at  the  mouth  of 
the  St.  Croix  and  voyaged  up  the  Mississippi  to 
St.  Peter's  river,  near  the  present  city  of  St. 
Paul,  where  he  found  two  traders,  and  announced 
his  mission.  Here  the  tribesmen  began  to  gather. 
Among  the  Sioux  were  some  Winnebagoes.  A 
nephew  of  the  Sioux  chief,  having  been  ac- 
cidentally drowned  with  a  Frenchman,  "which 
caused  a  little  trouble  through  the  sadness  which 


CHARLES    DELANGLADE  223 

it  spread  in  the  place."  The  general  poverty  of 
the  aboriginals,  "so  overpowered  me  that  to  make 
them  follow  me,  I  was  obliged  to  buy  food." 
Now  assembling  all  the  clansmen  on  the  river 
bank,  they  took  canoes  and  swiftly  sped  down 
the  great  river,  landing  at  Prairie  du  Chien  on 
the  twenty-sixth  of  April,  where  he  found  waiting 
him  a  red  tomahawk  sent  by  de  Langlade,  and  a 
letter,  brought  by  Siskonsin,  the  chief,  in  which 
de  Langlade  had  sent  a  message  to  the  savages. 
Gautier  called  all  the  barbarians  into  a  great 
council,  and  with  the  red  tomahawk,  sent  to  them 
by  the  Bravest  of  the  Brave,  raised  on  high,  he 
read  to  them  the  message  which  was  with  it. 

The  Bravest  of  the  Brave,  "commands  me  to 
speak  to  all  the  chiefs  and  warriors,  but  not  to 
others,  that  de  Langlade  was  a  warrior,  not  a 
chief.  He  invited  his  comrades  the  warriors  to 
come  to  see  him  at  La  Baye,  and  to  do  so  they 
had  only  to  grasp  his  tomahawk  by  one  end,  be- 
cause he  (Langlade)  held  it  by  the  other." 

In  a  few  days  came  a  report  that  Sieur  Reaume, 
a  trader,  "had  killed  and  scalped  a  Sac.  Sad 
news  for  me  who  was  preparing  a  war  talk. "  A 
band  of  Sacs  had  joined  the  Bostonais,  as  the 
Americans  were  called,  and  had  attacked  Sieur 
Linetot,  a  trader,  on  his  way  to  the  Rock  river 
and  robbed  him  of  a  tierce  of  brandy  and  said: 
"they  would  have  vengeance  for  this  murder." 
Gautier,  "assembled  all  the  traders  and  had  them 


224  CHARLES    DE    LANGLADE 

help  cover  up  this  so  called  shameful  death,  after 
Sieur  Reaume  had  in  a  feeble  way  redeemed  this 
murder."  So  many  Indians  had  assembled,  to 
which  the  traders  sold  great  quantities  of  whiskey, 
with  the  result  there  was  a  terrible  pow  wow. 
One  morning  in  May  when  Gautier  came  out  of 
his  tent,  he  was  horrified  to  find  the  dead  body  of  a 
Sac  killed  by  drink.  His  name  was  Sirchihom. 
This  created  great  uneasiness.  "The  Indians  un- 
ceasingly charged  the  whites  had  killed  him,  and 
brought  up  again  the  murder  of  Reaume.  The 
danger  was  so  threatening  that  Gautier  was 
obliged  to  flee  to  the  woods  with  his  faithful 
Sioux  guards,"  and  "keep  ourselves  hidden." 
Then  came  news  that  a  brother  of  the  trader, 
Sieur  Alexis  Reaume  had  been  killed  on  his  way 
from  winter  quarters.  At  last  Gautier  put  a  stop 
to  trade  in  brandy,  and  having  restored  order  lib- 
erally distributed  presents,  and  buried  the  dead 
with  the  Indian  rites.  Now  he  sent  Sieur  de  Lin- 
etot,  the  younger  to  rouse  the  Iowa,  who  having 
been  advised  by  the  Spaniards,  "not  to  heed  the 
Venemous  and  Empoisoned  mouths  which  should 
come"  to  them  from  the  Bostonais,  which,  "all 
concurred  to  my  enterprise,  for  they  were  ready 
to  come  to  the  number  of  sixty  and  more."  More 
brandy  riots  breaking  out,  he  finally  took  his 
Sioux  warriors  and  families  and  repaired  to  the 
Fox  village;  where  after  he  had  assembled  the 
tribesmen  beneath  the  trees  one  May  morning, 


CHARLESDELANGLADE  225 

and  rolled  out  a  barrel  of  brandy,  LeChat  a  Pox 
"overturned  it  with  a  kick  saying:  'That  did  not 
pay  for  the  bodies  of  the  two  dead  men  whom  the 
whites  had  killed."  Then  they  all  sprang"  up 
and  would  have  captured  Gautier,  if  Siskoinsin, 
Chief  of  the  village  had  not  sprang  to  his  assist- 
ance, by  seizing  the  red  tomahawk,  (of  de  Lang- 
lade)  singing  the  war  song,  and  "addressed  them 
with  views,  contrary  to  the  ideas  of  the  whole 
village,  which  calms  all  very  well." 

By  the  next  day  sixty  Fox  had  agreed  to  go  to 
Montreal,  and  now  the  Sacs  having  come  up, 
Gautier  left  the  Fox  and  appeared  in  the  Sac  vil- 
lage; but  just  at  the  moment  of  his  arrival,  three 
Sacs  came  from  Rock  river,  sent  with  a  belt  from 
the  Bostonais  to  all  the  villages  of  the  Wiscon- 
sin river,  and  "they  were  at  one  end  of  the  lodge 
when  I  began  to  talk  at  the  other  end,  without 
knowing  there  were  any  strangers  there."  Be- 
ing warned  by  an  old  lady  that  we  would  be 
killed  if  we  went  to  the  Rock  river,  we  concluded 
not  to  go  there.  "All  this  occurred  in  a  council 
of  war  and  many  weak  voices  talked  war."  But 
the  situation  was  not  encouraging  as  they  con- 
stantly reproached  him  with  the  death  of  the  two 
tribesmen. 

Sieur  Jamisse,  a  friend  of  a  son  of  the  dead 
Sirchihom,  both  of  whom  were  in  conversation 
with  the  three  strangers,  "took  the  tomahawk 
and  danced,  which  excited  the  whole  nation,  and 


226  CHARLES    DELANGLADE 

at  the  end  of  the  dance  presented  the  tomahawk 
to  the  son,"  and  Gautier  found  himself  very  soon 
in  command  of  a  "very  small  band  of  Royalists," 
"while  the  son  of  the  deceased  seated  in  both 
councils  took  the  tomahawk  and  "made  a  speech, 
in  which  he  demanded  my  skin;"  "and  to  appease 
him  I  was  forced  to  give  my  regimentals." 

Th  e  last  of  May  he  embarked  on  th  e  broad  waters 
of  the  Wisconsin  river  and  dodging  its  sandbars 
and  overhanging  branches,  arrived  at  the  portage 
into  the  Fox  river.  On  the  way  he  had  gathered 
up  Nibakoa  band  of  mixed  tribes  of  all  nations. 
At  the  portage  the  Sac  and  Fox  came  up.  As  the 
season  was  far  advanced  he  could  not  wait,  and 
he  continued  to  write  back  for  all  parties  to  hurry 
to  La  Baye. 

Their  canoes  were  now  pointed  down  the  Upper 
Fox.  The  wild  rice  was  just  beginning  to  grow. 
The  trees  had  taken  on  the  fresh  leaves;  the 
wildwoods  were  carpeted  with  the  gorgeous  May 
flowers;  from  the  trees  came  the  song  of  the  robin 
and  hundreds  of  beautiful  birds,  just  returned 
from  their  winter  in  the  southland;  the  bear, 
panther,  wildcat  and  wolf  sought  their  prey 
through  the  openings.  All  nature  hailed  the  war- 
riors as  they  glided  out  of  the  Upper  Fox  into 
the  Great  LakeButte  des  Morts;  then  through  the 
few  miles  of  deep,  wide  river,  passing  the  future 
site  of  the  very  handsome  city  of  Oshkosh;  they 
emerged  into  the  broad,  clear  waters  of  Winne- 


CHARLES    DELANGLADE  227 

bago  Lake,  the  largest  inland  body  of  water  in 
the  United  States.  Gliding  over  half  its  length 
past  Garlic  Island  and  Black  Bird  Island  they 
came  to  the  falls  of  Men-a-sha. 

On  they  flew  over  these  rapids,  passing  the 
future  cities  of  Menasha  and  Neenah;  and  emerg- 
ing onto  the  crystal  bosom  of  that  gem  of  lakes, 
the  Little  Butte  des  Morts,  which  they  crossed 
to  the  falls  of  Ococitiming,  over  which  they 
plunged,  shooting  through  the  rapids,  passing 
the  future  college  city  of  Appleton;  thence 
on  over  thirty  miles  of  turbulent,  plunging 
rapids,  they  at  last  beach  their  canoes  in  the  lit- 
tle French  Creole  hamlet  of  La  Baye,  and  saluted 
with  a  great  shout,  their  commander,  Charles  de 
Langlade. 

It  was  an  inspiring  and  exciting  war  party  who 
swept  the  rapids  with  Gautier,  composed  of  two 
hundred  and  ten  savages  with  their  families,  mak- 
ing over  five  hundred  people.  In  a  few  days 
sixty  lowas  came  sweeping  down  the  rapids.  The 
party  now  composed  of  Sioux,  Fox,  Sac,  Winne- 
bagoes  and  lowas,  joined  by  the  Menomonees, 
departed  under  de  Langlade,  on  the  6th  of  June, 
over  the  bay  and  lake  to  Old  Mackinaw,  where 
they  reported  to  De  Peyster.  Within  a  few  days 
after  this  De  Peyster  had  reported  to  Carleton, 
that  he  had  "sent  off  the  last  of  the  Indians,  des- 
tined for  Montreal  this  season,  amounting  to  five 
hundred  and  fifty  warriors." 


XIX 

1778-1780.  COLONEL  GEORGE  ROGER  CLARK  CAP- 
TURES THE  ENGLISH  POSTS  IN  THE  ILLINOIS 
REGION,  AND  STRIKES  TERROR  THROUGHOUT 
THE  WEST. 

VERY  soon  after  the  barbaric  host  had  taken 
canoes  for  Montreal,  DePeyster  learned 
of  the  movements  of  Colonel  George  Roger 
Clark,  who  was  marching  through  the  Illinois 
country,  and  on  the  fourth  of  July,  1778,  had 
captured  Kaskaskia,  and  very  soon  after,  Cahokia 
and  Vincennes,  the  last  English  post  in  that 
region;  but  by  September,  De  Peyster  became 
greatly  excited  by  the  information  and  the  rumors 
of  Clark's  proposed  marching  against  Detroit, 
and  Mackinaw.  He  proposed  Gautier  be  sent 
again  to  the  Mississippi  to  keep  the  Indians  in 
line,  saying:  "Mr.  de  Langlade  the  zealous,  will 
by  no  means  be  able  to  undertake  so  active  an 
enterprise."  This  is  the  first  intimation  that 
this  strenuous  life  was  breaking  his  iron  consti- 
tution. 

After  remaining  in  the  Montreal  country  all 
summer  with  his  savages,  de  Langlade  was  or- 
dered by  Colonel  Campbell,  then  on  Lake  Cham- 
plain,  at  Chamblee,  to  proceed  with  all  haste  to 
Mackinaw  and  arouse  the  Indians  to  go  to  the 


CHARLESDELANGLADE  229 

assistance  of  Lieutenant  Governor  Hamilton,  who 
had  retaken  Fort  Vincennes  in  southern  Indiana. 
De  Langlade  reached  Mackinaw  on  the  last  of 
October.  The  Indians  had  all  gone  to  their 
winter  quarters,  and  when  he  reached  Grand 
River  very  late,  having  been  delayed  by  adverse 
winds,  he  raised  about  eighty  of  the  savages, 
who  on  hearing  that  Hamilton  was  at  Vincennes, 
refused  to  follow  then  and  de  Langlade  crossed 
the  lake  in  the  middle  of  January  to  his  home  at 
La  Baye.  On  his  arrival,  he  had  a  letter  from 
Governor  Hamilton  at  Vincennes,  informing  him 
of  his  intention  to  remain  the  winter  and  require- 
ing  de  Langlade  to  join  him  in  the  spring  by  the 
Illinois  river.  As  soon  as  it  was  possible  to  tra- 
vel in  the  spring  (1779),  he  called  the  Indians 
together  and  took  the  trail  along  the  shore  of 
lake  Michigan  to  the  Indian  village  of  mixed 
bands  at  Milwaukee,  where  he  received  word  of 
Governor  Hamilton's  capture  by  George  Roger 
Clark,  at  Fort  Vincennes,  and  the  Indians  being 
disheartened  refused  to  go  farther.  He  then 
crossed  the  lake  to  Old  Mackinaw  and  reported 
to  DePeyster  on  the  twelfth  of  May,  1879.  He 
had  been  informed  that  Sieur  Beucho,  a  Cana- 
dian, with  a  party  of  twenty  horsemen  was  tra- 
veling through  the  prairie  towns,  gathering  horses 
for  Colonal  Clark,  and  spreading  the  rumor  that 
they  would  march  soon  on  La  Baye,  with  three 
hundred  men;  but  de  Langlade  thought  they  in- 


230  CHARLES    DE    LANGLADE 

tended  to  attack  Detroit,  which  was  true;  and 
only  prevented  by  want  of  resources.  Great  ex- 
citement spread  through  Michigan  and  Wisconsin 
by  this  expected  raid,  and  DePeyster  could  not 
see  how  he  was  to  hold  his  "post  with  a  handful 
of  men. "  Then  came  news  that  the  Bostonais 
were  building  boats  near  Milwaukee  and  that  they 
bad  sent  belts  to  the  Michigan  Ottawa  and  Chip, 
pewa.  "Mr.  Hamilton's  defeat  has  cooled  the 
Indians  in  general."  While  expecting  momenta- 
rily the  arrival  of  Colonel  Clark,  DePeyster  pro- 
ceeded to  do  "all  thiss  and  will  allow  to  put  this 
fort  in  a  state  of  defense,"  and  leveled  the  sand 
hills  about,  "to  prevent  any  lodgement  behind 
them."  De  Langlade  remained  at  the  post  dur- 
ing the  summer.  DePeyster  called  a  grand  coun- 
cil of  the  tribes  to  be  held  at  L'Arbre  Croche  on 
the  fourth  of  July,  1779,  and  sent  out  runners 
everywhere  to  call  in  the  chiefs.  Pierre  Caree 
had  been  sent  to  Milwaukee  to  invite  the  Indians 
there  to  join  the  grand  council,  and  failing  of 
success,  Gautier  de  Verville,  was  sent  to  induce 
them  to  come;  but  he  returned  and  reported  the 
Indians  had  laughed  at  him.  Their  chief  was 
Sigenauk  or  Black  Bird,  who  gave  the  British 
much  trouble  and  whom  DePeyster  called  "those 
runegates  of  Milwaukee,  a  horrid  set  of  refracto- 
ry Indians."  Now  de  Langlade  appeared  among 
them,  and  his  talk  having  no  effect,  he  concluded 
to  resort  to  the  favorite  habits  of  the  Indian.  He 


CHARLESDELANGLADE  231 

caused  a  cabin  to  be  erected  with  an  open  door  at 
each  end,  killed  several  dogs,  had  a  dog  feast 
prepared,  then  impaled  the  raw  dog"  heart  on  a 
stick  at  each  door.  He  invited  all  to  the  feast, 
which  they  partook  of,  when  de  Lacglade  bound- 
ing into  the  center  of  their  circle,  began  to  sing 
the  war  songs  in  their  language,  the  while  pass- 
ing around  the  lodge,  and  each  time  as  he  passed 
the  door  he  bit  into  the  dog's  heart,  an  appeal  to 
the  Indian  bravery,  which  was  irresistable,  and 
one  after  another  leaped  up  and  joined  in  the 
warsong  and  the  war  dance,  until  all  were  fol- 
lowing de  Langlade,  and  he  led  them  in  triumph 
to  L'Arbre  Croche  to  the  great  Council. 

De  Peyster  wrote  a  book  on  his  western  exper- 
iences, part  of  which  was  supposed  to  be  verse  in 
which  he  mentions  the  incident  as  follows: 

"Those  renegates  of  Milwakie 
Must  now  perforce  with  you  agree; 
Sly  Seggenaak  and  Naskewoin, 
Must  with  Langlade  their  forces  join." 

It  was  also  rumored  that  Colonel  George  Roger 
Clark  would  make  his  way  up  the  Wabash  from 
Vincennes.  Then  De  Peyster  clothed  and  armed 
a  body  of  Canadians  to  march  with  the  Indians 
to  oppose  Colonel  Clark's  movement  against 
Detroit,  and  to  oppose  the  rumored  cavalry  of 
Linclot. 

After  the  council,  the  Indians,  having  been  per- 
suaded by  a  lavish  distribution  of  rum  and  pres- 


232  CHARLESDELANGLADE 

ents  to  take  the  warpath,  were  led  by  de  Langlade 
with  the  Canadians  south  from  L'Arbre  Croche  to 
St.  Joseph,  a  post  at  the  portage  from  the  St. 
Joseph  river  to  the  Kankakee  river,  now  said  to 
have  been  at  the  present  city  of  South  Bend  in 
Indiana.  Here  it  was  learned  that  the  enemy 
was  not  on  the  march  and  the  war  party  dis- 
solved. But  De  Peyster  was  "nevertheless  per- 
suaded that  the  noise  of  assembling',  caused 
Colonel  Clark  to  retire  and  lay  aside  his  expedi- 
tion, especially  as  Clark  was  also  informed  that 
the  Sioux  were  to  fall  upon  the  habitants  of  the 
Creoles,  if  they  marched  with  Clark  against 
Detroit." 

While  the  warriors  were  away  to  intercept 
Clark,  "the  families  of  all  the  Indians  were  by 
agreement  taken  care  of  and  clothed."  Great 
pains  were  taken  to  retain  the  friendship  of  the 
Indians  at  this  time  by  the  Commandant  at  Mack- 
inaw, "whose  friendship  it  was  my  instructions  to 
cultivate,"  and  the  expenses  became  the  subject 
of  an  inquiry  from  the  Governor,  which  he  ex- 
plained and  said:  "The  expense  of  which  gave 
me  great  uneasiness  of  mind,  and  the  extraordi- 
nary trouble  I  took  proved  equally  grievous  to 
the  body."  The  extent  of  the  Indian  demands 
was  a  source  of  anxiety,  because  it  would  incur 
the  displeasure  of  the  Government  by  too  lavish 
expenditure,  and  bring  on  disastrous  conse- 
quences by  neglect  of  Indian  impunity,  for  as  he 


CHARLES    DE   LANGLADE  233 

reports:  "I  am  sorry  to  say  sir,  that  the  Indians 
are  now  come  to  such  a  pitch,  as  to  make  their 
own  demands,  and  that  the  refusal  of  a  trifle,  if 
not  done  with  caution,  may  turn  a  whole  war 
party. " 

The  next  spring1,  Madam  Langlade  went  down 
to  Montreal,  and  found  herself  penniless;  so  she 
applied  for  the  half  year  salary  of  her  husband 
in  the  following  letter: 

"My  general — It  is  to  you  alone  that  I  can  ap- 
ply for  permission  to  have  a  canoe  to  go  to  M.  de 
Langlade,  my  husband,  who  desires  me,  and  who 
has  been  for  several  years  in  the  service  of  his 
Majesty,  at  the  upper  posts,  and  is  now  at  Mich- 
illimackinac.  The  zeal  of  his  service  and  his  dis- 
interestedness have  made  his  fortune  so  small 
that  I  have  no  other  resource  than  to  entreat  you 
to  command  Mons.  Campbell  to  pay  me  the  six 
months  of  his  salary,  which  will  fall  due  next 
month;  in  order  that  I  may  make  some  small  pro- 
vision for  this  hard  journey. 

"The  uprightness  and  the  Devotion  with  which 
M.  de  Langlade  has  served  his  Majesty  for 
twenty  years  on  different  occasions,  make  me 
hope  that  His  Excellency  will  not  refuse  me  this 
favor.  He  can  see  a  sketch  of  his  services  in  the 
most  gracious  letter  of  His  Excellency,  General 
Gage,  at  the  time  of  the  defeat  of  the  fort  at 
Michillimackinac,  a  copy  of  which  I  add  here,  not 
daring  to  intrust  the  original  to  the  post  office. 


234  CHARLES    DE    LANGLADE 

"I  am  with  the  most  profound  respect,  My 
General,  the  most  humble  and  most  obedient  ser- 
vant of  your  Excellency, 

DOURANA  LANGLADE." 

"Montreal,  22nd  May,  1780." 

The  meaning  of  the  expression,  "permission  to 
have  a  canoe,"  was  a  canoe  load  of  goods  for 
trade  with  the  Indians.  By  which  it  would  ap- 
pear that  de  Lang-lade,  detained  at  the  post  by 
the  excitement  of  Clark's  raid,  was  obliged  to 
send  his  wife  for  the  necessary  goods  to  keep  up 
his  trading  store. 

De  Langlade's  salary  was  eight  shillings  per 
day,  New  York  money  equal  to  two  dollars  at 
present,  face  value,  but  in  purchasing  power  sev- 
eral times  that  amount  as  compared  to  the  value 
of  the  money  to-day.  While  his  salary  might 
seem  large  as  his  expenses  were  also  paid,  yet  he 
was  of  such  a  generous  nature,  that  he  actually 
gave  everything  away  to  the  Indians.  Of  this 
generous  disposition,  DePeyster  took  occasion  to 
remark  in  an  official  report.  It  seems  de  Lang- 
lade  on  going  away  to  Montreal  in  the  Burgoyne 
campaign,  had  left  his  accounts  to  be  made  up  at 
the  post,  and  DePeyster  was  sending  them  on, 
"after  they  had  been  digested  into  a  regular  ac- 
count," when  he  remarked,  "I  believe  him  to 
be  strictly  honest,  but  I  see  he  retains  all  the 
French  customs.  Nothing  so  easy  given  as  an 
order  on  the  King.  In  short  he  can  refuse  the 


MADAME  CHARLES  DE  LANGLADE 

At  Montreal.     Page  234.     From  an  ideal  drawing.     No  likeness  of  this  handsome 
queen  of  the  frontier  hits  come  down  to  us. 


CHARLES    DELANGLADE  235 

Indians  nothing1  they  can  ask,  and  they  will  loose 
nothing  for  want  of  asking. "  His  service  to  the 
King  was  a  great  detriment  to  his  private  for- 
tunes. 

In  the  spring  of  1779,  DePeyster  reports  to 
Governor  Haldimand,  "Mr.  Langlade  should  be 
kept  in  pay  and  in  temper,"  but  he  "represents 
that  he  cannot  live  at  thia  extravagant  place 
upon  their  allowance  having  a  constant  run  of 
Indians  who  snatch  the  bread  out  of  his  mouth." 


CAPTAIN  CHARLES  DE  LANGLADE  LEADS  THE  SAV- 
AGES OF  THE  NORTHWEST  TO  THE  MASSACRE  OF 
ST.  LOUIS,  AND  IS  DEFEATED  AT  CAHOKIA  BY 
GEORGE  ROGER  CLARK 

THE  publications  of  the  Historical  Society  of 
Wisconsin  have  brought  to  our  notice  the 
ancient  archives  of  Quebec,  which  throw  a 
different  light  upon  the  attack  on  St.  Louis  dur- 
ing the  Revolutionary  war,  from  which  it  seems 
that  affair  was,  according  to  the  British  dis- 
patches, a  very  serious  massacre,  involving  the 
death  of  nearly  half  the  habitants.  From  previous 
information  at  hand,  it  was  supposed  but  eight 
deaths  had  been  caused,  by  a  few  disappointed 
savages,  who  had  not  approached  nearer  than  a 
mile  of  the  stone  mansion  or  warehouse  where 
the  Spanish  governor  and  soldiers  were  quarter- 
ed, and  was  a  simple  affair  compared  to  informa- 
tion furnished  by  the  English  dispatches,  which 
disclose  an  appalling  massacre.  These  published 
archives  disclose  also  that  the  deaths  were  not 
by  a  few  scattered  savages,  but  that  the  attack 
was  desperately  made  by  a  host  of  upwards  of  a 
thousand  savages,  sent  out  under  order  of  the 
British  governor  at  Old  Mackinaw,  and  led  by 
that  prince  of  border  warriors,  the  greatest  of 


CHARLESDELANGLADE  237 

the  bushrangers,  the  Creole  Captain  Charles  de 
Langlade,  whom  the  savages  named  "Bravest  of 
the  Brave, "  the  same  who  organized  the  tribes 
and  led  them  to  the  slaughter  of  Braddock's  army 
at  Duquesne,  and  who  killed  Wolf  on  the  plains 
of  Abraham. 

These  English  official  documents  are  published 
principally  in  the  reports  of  the  Wisconsin  His- 
torical Society,  Volumes,  Number  11  and  12,  from 
which  most  of  the  information  of  this  chapter  is 
gleaned. 

Captain  De  Peyster,  the  commander  of  Old 
Mackinaw  who  had  so  often  begged  to  be  relieved 
of  his  command  at  this  frontier  post,  now  had  his 
wish  gratified,  and  October  fourth,  1779,  Lieuten- 
ant Governor  Patrick  Sinclair  appeared  at  the 
"rickety  picket"  and  took  command.  He  was 
charged  with  rebuilding  and  enlarging  his  Majes- 
ty's post  in  these  parts.  In  a  short  time  he  de- 
termined to  establish  the  fort  on  the  Island  of 
Mackinac,  where  having  completed  the  new 
fort,  he  removed  his  command  in  the  spring  of 
1781,  a  year  after  the  occurrences  here  mentioned. 

Soon  after  the  treaty  of  1763  by  which  the 
French  ceded  Canada  to  the  English  as  far  as  the 
Mississippi  river,  she  gave  to  Spain  all  Louisiana, 
west  of  the  Mississippi,  who  established  a  mili- 
tary post  at  Pencour  (also  spelled  Pencor  by 
Draper)  which  became  the  future  City  of  St. 
Louis.  Spain  had  made  common  cause  with 


238  CHARLES    DE    LANGLADE 

France,  and  May,  8,1779,  had  declared  war  against 
England.  The  British  Lord  Germain  forwarded 
to  Haldimand,  now  English  Governor  of  Canada, 
dispatches  informing  him  of  this  and  ordering  him 
to  attack  Spanish  posts  on  the  border  river,  in 
co-operation  with  a  proposed  expedition  under 
Brigadier  General  Campbell,  who  was  to  proceed 
up  the  Mississippi  to  Natches  with  an  army  and 
fleet.  These  orders  were  sent  to  the  western 
Governor's  and  received  by  Sinclair  at  Mackinaw 
in  the  middle  of  February,  1780. 

He  at  once  set  about  to  organize  an  Indian 
force  to  go  against  George  Roger  Clark  in  the 
Illinois  Country  and  the  Spaniards  at  Pencour, 
which  was  to  be  commanded  by  Captain  Charles 
de  Langlade.  He  fitted  out  a  party  who  were  to 
"engage  the  Indians  to  the  westward  in  an  at- 
tack on  the  Spanish  and  Illinois  Country,"  com- 
posed of  "seven  hundred  and  fifty  men,  made  up 
of  traders,  servants  and  Indians,"  under  Wabasha, 
chief  of  the  Sioux,  who  he  says  was  "a  man  of 
uncommon  abilities.  They  are  a  people  unde- 
bauched,  addicted  to  war,  and  zealously  attached 
to  his  Majesty's  interest."  With  Wabasha,  Mons. 
Rocque  was  ordered  to  go  as  interpreter  in 
French,  and  Mr.  Key  as  English  interpreter. 
"Mr.  Hesse,  a  trader  and  man  of  character, "was 
ordered  to  assemble  the  Menomonee,  Winnebago, 
Sac  and  Foxes  at  the  one  mile  portage  of  the 
Fox  and  Wisconsin  rivers  in  Wisconsin.  There 


CHARLES DELANGLADE  239 

to  collect  all  the  canoes  and  corn  in  the  country, 
and  remain  there  until  he  is  joined  by  Sergeant 
Phillips  '  'with  a  very  noted  chief  Machiguawish 
and  his  band  of  Ojibwa."  This  was  the  same 
sanguinary  chief  who  devised  the  surprise  and 
led  the  massacre  of  the  English  garrison  at 
Mackinaw  seventeen  years  before  and  who  loaded 
with  presents  and  rum  was  a  firm  friend  of  the 
English.  Their  several  tribes,  including  the 
Sioux,  were  to  assemble  at  Prairie  du  Chien. 

The  lead  mines  of  the  Galena  region,  had  been 
discovered  by  Perrot  in  1690,  and  were  known  as 
Perrot's  mines.  During  the  Revolution  the  lead 
became  an  important  item  of  commerce.  The 
mines  were  claimed  by  the  Pox  and  Sac  Indians 
who  guarded  them  jealously,  fearing  the  English, 
as  they  might  wish  to  dispossess  their  dusky 
owners;  but  the  French  would  be  content  to  per- 
mit the  Indian  to  work  the  mines  and  trade  the 
lead  to  them.  This  tribe  of  Indians  were  suspec- 
ted of  having  gone  over  to  the  "Bostonais,"  as 
they  called  the  English  colonists. 

This  war  party  now  gathered  by  Sinclair's 
agents  at  Prairie  du  Chien,  were  also  to  seize 
whatever  lead  they  could,  and  capture  the  people 
working  in  the  lead  mines.  The  lead  in  its  native 
state  was  found  in  crevices  of  the  Galena  lime- 
stone rock  and  could  be  easily  broken  out.  It 
was  melted  in  small  ovens  made  of  rough  stone 
from  which  the  lead  ran  to  the  bottom  and  out 


240  CHARLES    DE    LANGLADE 

into  small  holes  in  the  ground,  giving-  it  a  form 
and  shape  of  ingots,  easily  handled.  While  wait- 
ing for  all  to  assemble,  a  scouting  band  of  this 
war  party  captured  a  "large  armed  boat,  loaded 
at  Pencour  (St.  Louis),  in  which  were  twelve  men 
and  a  Rebel  commissioner."  This  was  Gratiot's 
trading  boat.  The  report  continues:  "From  the 
mines  they  brought  seventeen  Spanish  and  rebel 
prisoners  together  with  fifty  ton  of  lead."  All 
these  were  forwarded  to  Mackinaw. 

The  war  party  starting  at  Prairie  du  Chien  wa 
to  be  a  support  to  the  force  under  Captain  d 
Langlade,  consisting  of  a  "chosen  band  of  Indian 
and  Canadians,"  who  were  transported  by  sail 
boats  over  Lake  Michigan  to  Chicago,  where  the 
were  joined   by  others,    and   then  entering  tl 
Illinois  river,  made  their  way  south  through  tl 
wide  rolling   prairies.     Another   party  were 
scour  the  prairie.     If  this  expedition   had  bee 
properly   supported  by   cannon  and  provisions 
they  would  have  repossessed  the  Illinois  posts 
and  destroyed  St.  Louis.     Captain  Durand  who 
had  arrived  at  Mackinaw  the  previous  October 
from   trading   in  the   Illinois  Country  with  the 
Americans,    bringing  with    him    seven   hundred 
dollars  in  Continental  paper  currency  which  was 
forwarded  to  Quebec,  acted  as  a  guide  to  de  Lang- 
lade's  command.     As  security  for  his  good  con- 
duct  he   left  all   his  property  in  possession  of 
Sinclair. 


CHARLESDELANGLADE  241 

Captain  de  Lang-lade  had  with  him  an  armful 
of  marvelous  wampum  belts  prepared  under  the 
inspiration  of  Sinclair  which  were  supposed  to  be 
symbolical  of  the  wide  extent  of  England's  do- 
main. They  are  described  by  Sinclair  himself 
in  official  report:  "I  have  prepared  nine  large 
belts  geographically  descriptive  of  the  strides 
made  in  colonization  of  ours  and  the  Spanish  sit- 
uation on  the  Mississippi,  and  placed  two  Indian 
figures  with  joined  hands  and  raised  axes,  in  the 
Country  between  this  and  that  river.  It  serves  to 
please."  One  would  suppose  that  "joined  hands 
3.nd  raised  axes"  would  be  symbolical  of  treach- 
Ty,  rather  than  friendship. 

/.  Cahokia  was  a  French  Canadian  village  on  the 
Illinois  side  of  the  Mississippi  river,  about  a  mile 
'•felow  the  present  East  St.  Louis,  containing  fifty 
'-buses  and  about  two  hundred  inhabitants,  most- 
ly French,  with  some  Indians  and  Creoles.  The 
old  French  fort  abandoned  by  St.  Ange  for  Pen- 
cour,  now  St.  Louis,  when  France  in  1763  relin- 
guished  the  territory  to  England,  was  now  seven- 
teen years  afterward  mostly' rotted  away.  The 
little  American  force  under  Colonel  Clark  when 
they  swung  up  the  river  and  took  possession,  two 
years  before,  had  made  some  improvements  in  its 
rotting  pickets  and  log  block  houses,  but  this 
spring  had  abandoned  it  to  a  few  men,  who  were 
merely  scouts  for  dispatching  information,  and  had 
marched  away  with  his  main  force  of  one  hundred 


242  CHARLESDELANGLADE 

men  across  the  Ohio  river,  where  he  established 
Port  Jefferson,  near  its  outlet.  It  was  reported 
to  Sinclair  at  Mackinaw,  that  at  Cahokia,  Kas- 
kaskia  and  St.  Louis,  "the  garrisons  were  depen- 
dent for  their  daily  bread  on  the  inhabitants  who 
were  wearied  out  by  their  demands." 

St.  Louis,  or  as  all  the  English  dispatches 
name  it,  Pencour,  was  in  1780  a  straggling  ham- 
let, up  the  sloping  hillside,  of  one  hundred  log 
cabins  and  fifteen  stone  houses,  all  widely  scat- 
tered along  the  river  front.  The  most  conspicu- 
ous building  was  the  trading  post  or  stone  ware- 
house of  the  founder  of  St.  Louis,  the  celebrated 
Pierre  Laclede,  a  stone  palace  sixty  feet  long 
and  twenty  feet  deep. 

The  upper  story  surrounded  by  a  wide  veranda 
encircling  the  whole  house,  was  occupied  now  by 
the  Lieutenant  Governor  Don  de  Leyba  and  his 
family,  while  on  the  first  floor  was  quartered  the 
twenty  soldiers  who  upheld  the  Spanish  flag  in 
these  parts. 

This  Friday,  the  day  of  the  "grand  coup"  had 
been  set  by  the  governor  for  his  final  judgment 
in  the  Gratiot  replevin  case,  at  which  were  assem- 
bled in  the  government  hall  the  principal  busi- 
ness men  of  the  place,  (Annals  of  St.  Louis,  by 
Billon),  who  were  surprised  in  their  deliberation 
by  the  onslaught  of  the  savages,  the  massacre  of 
the  habitants  of  St.  Louis. 


MASSACRE  OF  ST.  Louis 

"The  terrified  men,  women  and  children  ran  out  from  their  houses  to  reach  places 
of  security,  but  many  fell  beneath  the  tomahawk."     Page  245. 


CHARLES DELANGLADE  243 

The  doors  of  St.  Louis  homes  and  of  its  bar- 
racks daily  swung  open,  through  which  the  strol- 
ling savage  wandered  unchallenged.  Sinclair 
expected  its  easy  capture,  "by  a  surprise  from 
the  easy  admission  of  Indians."  Prom  reports 
brought  to  him  he  learned  it  was  defended  by 
"twenty  men  and  twenty  brass  cannon,"  and  sup- 
posed its  reduction  would  "be  less  difficult  than 
holding  it  afterward. "  He  was  so  confident  of 
securing  possession  of  all  the  Illinois  Country 
that  before  his  several  divisions  started,  he  had 
made  his  appointments  to  the  several  posts. 
Hesse,  the  trader,  whom  he  made  a  captain,  was 
to  command  St.  Louis. 

Now  the  ever  warring  Sioux  of  the  plains,  with 
his  red  and  black  painted  skin,  half  naked,  and 
his  great  war  belt  of  feathers,  stretching  down 
his  back  from  above  his  head,  adding  to  his  de- 
formed ferocity,  smoked  the  pipe  of  peace  with 
the  Ojibwa  or  Chippewa,  he  of  "ye  stareing 
hairs"  of  older  days,  whose  numerous  bands 
ranged  a  vast  region  of  rock  and  forest  like  the 
hungry  wolf,  from  the  Ottawa  river  to  the 
Mississippi,  through  Canada,  Michigan  and  Wis- 
consin. Then  for  a  day  peace  was  made  with  the 
Ottawa,  the  Winnebago,  whose  necklace  of  human 
fingers  dangled  at  his  breast  the  symbol  unknown 
to  mercy;  and  the  Fox  and  Sac  whose  war  paint 
was  never  laid  aside  and  tomahawk  always  in 
the  air;  and  some  sneaking  Pottawatomies  who 


244  CHARLES    DELANGLADE 

would  hold  a  dagger  in  the  offered  hand  of  friend- 
ship. Among  this  Indian  horde  who  assembled 
from  their  forest  lairs  on  the  sand  dunes  at  the 
Dog  Plaines  or  Prairie  du  Chien,  were  five  Eng- 
lishmen. One  was  a  trader  erected  into  a  captain. 
One  was  a  sergeant  in  the  King's  service,  made  a 
lieutenant  for  the  expedition.  Three  were  pri- 
vates, Highlanders  in  the  service  of  His  Majesty, 
and  now  honored  by  the  title  of  sergeant  for  this 
journey.  All  being  ready  this  barbarian  host  set 
out  down  the  broad  river,  swiftly  flying  with 
paddle  and  current. 

Captain  de  Langlade  with  his  little  band  of 
"twenty  Canadians,"  and  the  Indian  chiefs  with 
a  few  dusky  followers  reached  the  Illinois  and 
sped  over  its  wide,  deep  current  through  broad 
prairie  and  high  forest  of  the  river  shore,  wind- 
ing here  and  there  about  with  the  curving  stream, 
they  came  at  last  to  the  great  river  over  whose 
milky  bosom  shimmering  in  the  May  sunlighti 
they  saw  the  long  fleet  of  Wabasha  sweeping 
down  with  the  current.  The  scouts  ranging  the 
plains.reported,  no  enemy  out,  and  all  now  joining 
their  forces  confidently  and  buoyantly  swung 
their  canoes  again  into  the  current  sure  of  an 
easy  victory,  many  scalps  and  to  participate  in 
"the  large  property,"  Pencour  "will  contribute. " 
It  was  supposed  that  this  formidable  war  party 
had  been  gathered  over  seven  hundred  miles  of 
territory,  unknown  to  the  enemy.  But  the  Gover- 


LACLEDE'S  STONE  MANSION,  ST.  Louis 

Which  was  surrounded  by  an  embankment  as  a  defense   against   de  Langlade's 

horde  of  savages,  protecting  the  Spanish  soldiers  while  the  habitants 

perished  by  the  tomahawk.     Page  246. 


CHARLES    DELANGLADE  245 

nor  of  St.  Louis  knew  of  it  two  months  before. 
He  had  made  some  effort  to  meet  the  attack  by 
surrounding  the  big  stone  mansion  with  a  high 
embankment.  He  is  reported  to  have  been  a 
drunkard  and  otherwise  incompetent. 

Captain  de  Lang-lade's  fleet  flying  down  the 
great  river,  sweeping  around  its  sand  islands 
between  its  forest  mantled  walls  of  brown  sand, 
or  jutting  cliffs  of  limestone,  landed  the  26th  of 
May  above  the  hillside  hamlet  of  St.  Louis  near 
the  present  waterworks.  The  naked  savages 
drew  the  canoes  high  above  the  floods,  and  leav- 
ing a  dozen  trusty  Sioux  to  guard  them  from 
prawling  natives,  his  thousand  followers  with 
their  arrows,  tomahawks  and  pointed  stone  war 
clubs,  clambered  up  the  steep  declivity  by  grasp- 
ing older  bushes  and  clinging  to  projecting  roots, 
followed  closely  after  the  heels  of  de  Langlade. 
After  gaining  the  heights  they  made  a  detour  to 
the  rear  of  the  village  and  gaining  a  partial  sur- 
prise swept  down  through  the  present  fair  grounds 
onto  the  habitants  who  had  not  yet  sought  refuge 
in  the  protected  embanked  storehouse.  The  ter- 
rified men,  women  and  children  ran  out  from 
their  houses  and  fields  to  reach  the  places  of 
security,  but  many  of  them  fell  beneath  the  toma- 
hawk and  were  scalped.  When  the  bloody  work 
was  finished,  the  savages  swarmed  through  the 
houses,  looting  them  of  clothing,  jewelry,  milk 
and  wines.  The  innocent  cows  and  oxen  were 


246  CHARLES    DE    LANGLADE 

slaughtered  by  the  hundreds.  From  behind  log- 
cabins,  barns  and  trees  they  attacked  the  stone 
mansion.  Every  head  which  appeared  above  the 
breast  work  was  shot  at.  A  fusilade  of  bullets 
flew  about  the  log  enclosures.  The  cannons  were 
useless  as  the  attacking  party  filled  the  town  and 
they  would  only  batter  themselves  and  their 
friends,  if  fired.  The  Winnebago  Indians  with 
some  of  the  Sioux  rushed  at  the  embankment 
raised  about  the  stone  house,  but  as  they  swarmed 
over  this  sand  works,  they  were  met  by  such  a 
hot  fire,  that  they  recoiled  and  retreated  in  haste 
down  the  slope,  leaving  dead  on  the  parapet,  one 
chief  and  three  warriors,  while  three  were  badly 
injured  and  one  was  mortally  wounded.  This 
was  the  only  casualty  met  writh  by  the  whole  ex- 
pedition. No  breach  could  be  made  in  the  walls 
of  the  house  as  de  Langlade  had  no  cannon.  The 
only  hope  of  capturing  the  place  was  by  assault. 
After  keeping  up  a  scattering  fire,  and  meeting 
with  no  success,  he  gave  the  word  to  assault  the 
embankment  at  all  points,  but  just  as  this  grand 
rush  was  about  to  take  place,  M.  Calve  and  M. 
Du  Charme,  who  appeared  to  control  the  Fox  and 
Sac,  hung  back  with  them  to  the  rear,  which 
gave  de  Langlade  and  his  warriors,  "well  ground- 
ed suspicion  that  they  were  between  two  fires. " 
These  two  Canadian  traders,  who  wintered  with 
the  Fox  and  Sac  at  their  lead  mine  settlement  in 
southern  Wisconsin,  had  been  dealing  with  the 


CHARLES    DELANGLADE  247 

Americans  and  Spanish,  and  were  at  the  same 
time  holding  out  to  the  English  that  they  were 
in  their  interest.  Now  when  the  time  came,  to 
test  them,  they  sought  to  seem  to  be  engaged  in 
battle,  when  they  were  really  watching  for  an 
opportunity  to  fall  on  de  Langlade's  party. 
"They  had  long  shared  the  profits  arising  from 
the  lead  mines  and  from  commerce  with  the 
American  and  Spanish  of  the  Illinois  region." 
Subsequently  when  they  appeared  at  Mackinaw 
their  goods  were  seized  and  they  sent  prisoners 
to  Montreal. 

De  Langlade  fearing  the  enemies  in  his  camp 
and  deeming  the  store-house  too  well  defended 
for  him  to  capture  without  cannon,  and  a  siege 
was  impractical,  because  he  had  no  provisions, 
therefore  called  off  his  little  band  of  Canadians 
and  the  warriors.  They  were  not  without  some 
success  as  they  considered  it  in  those  days  of 
bush  ranger  and  Indian  wars.  For  they  had 
killed  sixty  eight  (68)  of  the  enemy  and  had 
"eighteen  white  and  black  prisoners,  among 
whom  were  several  good  artificers,  many  hund- 
reds of  cattle  were  destroyed,  and  forty-three 
scalps  are  brought  in,"  as  appears  by  Lieut. 
Governor  Sinclair's  report.  Governor  Haldimand 
advised  him  he  would  "find  the  captive  artificers 
very  useful  at  present,"  to  work  on  the  new  fort 
building  on  the  Island  of  Mackinac.  De  Lang- 
lade  crossed  the  river,  deployed  through  the 


248  CHARLESDELANGLADE 

woods  for  Cahokia  about  a  mile  down  river.  As 
heretofore  stated,  Colonel  George  Roger  Clark 
had  abandoned  both  Cahokia  and  Kaskaskia  for 
the  new  fort  Jefferson  south  of  and  at  the  mouth 
of  the  Ohio  river.  Here  he  was  two  hundred 
miles  away  when  news  came  to  him  of  the  ap- 
proaching invasion  of  the  host  under  De  Lang- 
lade.  He  quickly  summoned  his  command,  and 
by  a  forced  march  reached  Cahokia  "with  his 
ragged  followers"  just  in  time  to  arrange  the  de- 
fence of  the  post.  (Life  of  Clark  by  Draper, 
App.  Am.  Cy.  of  Biog.) 

As  soon  as  Langlade's  "twenty  Canadians" 
and  Indian  warriors  came  up  to  the  hamlet  they 
rushed  through  the  town,  driving  in  the  women 
and  children,  and  immediately  assaulted  the  fort, 
but  the  reception  they  met  from  Colonel  Clark, 
convinced  de  Langlade  in  a  moment  that  it  was  not 
garrisoned  by  "a  few  sick  men  and  young  giddy 
recruits,"  but  he  learned  to  his  dismay  that 
George  Roger  Clark  the  terror  of  the  west  held 
the  fort.  However,  he  captured  five  American 
prisoners  and  killed  an  officer  and  three  men  of 
Clark's  command.  The  disaffection  of  Sacs  and 
Foxes,  and  his  lack  of  cannon  or  provisions, 
made  it  useless  for  him  to  attempt  anything  fur- 
ther, and  he  ordered  a  return  of  the  tribes  to 
their  several  homes,  while  he  retired  to  Prairie 
du  Chien,  followed  by  Captain  Montgomery, 
whom  Clark  had  detached  from  his  small  defen- 


CHARLESDELANGLADE  249 

sive  force,  to  menace  the  rear  of  the  retreating- 
host. 

One  party  of  savages  retreated  through  Illinois 
to  Chicago,  where  relief  sail  vessels  had  arrived 
with  a  reinforcement,  which  was  opportune,  as 
the  Pottawatomies  were  disputing  the  passage 
of  the  tribes  through  their  territory.  They  were 
finally  safe  on  board  the  vessels  or  in  canoes 
afloat  on  the  lake  and  arrived  by  July  at  the  post 
of  Old  Mackinaw  "with  forty- three  scalps  and 
thirty-four  black  and  white  prisoners,"  having 
in  the  battles  killed  seventy-one,  with  a  loss  to 
themselves  of  one  chief  and  three  warriors  killed 
and  four  wounded,  all  Winnebagoes. 

On  his  return  by  the  Mississippi  river  to  Prairie 
du  Chien,  de  Langlade  remained  with  a  small 
party,  to  guard  a  stock  of  peltries  the  traders  had 
gathered  there,  stored  in  a  log  house  which  was 
once  the  old  French  fort.  Captain  J.  Long1  had 
been  sent  down  from  Mackinaw  by  the  Fox  river 
route  to  bring  off  these  peltries.  With  him  were 
twenty  Canadians  and  thirty-six  Indians.  When 
they  arrived  they  found  Captain  de  Langlade  on 
guard  with  some  Indians.  Taking  out  three  hun- 
dred packs  of  the  best  skins,  they  filled  the 
canoes,  placing  thirty-six  packs  in  each  canoe. 
There  were  sixty  packs  left  in  the  log  building, 
which  unable  to  remove,  they  set  fire  to  the 
structure  and  burned  the  old  French  fort  to  the 
ground,  to  prevent  the  peltries  or  fort  from  fall- 


250  CHARLES    DE    LANGLADE 

ing  into  the  hands  of  the  Americans  whom  they 
expected  there  soon.  It  was  reported  that  five 
days  after  de  Langlade  and  his  party  had  started 
up  the  Wisconsin  river,  for  La  Baye  (Green  Bay), 
that  the  Americans  came  to  attack  the  force  at 
Prairie  du  Chien. 

Governor  Don  de  Leyba  after  the  massacre  of 
St.  Louis,  "took  to  his  bed  with  his  last  illness 
very  shortly  after  the  sad  affair  of  May  26th, 
sending  to  Ste.  Genevieve  for  his  Lieutenant  Car- 
tabona."  On  his  arrival,  de  Leyba  executed  his 
last  will,  June  10th,  and  died  the  28th,  one  month 
after  the  massacre,  from  chagrin  and  mortifica- 
tion. 

Immediately  after  the  massacre  the  govern- 
ment caused  a  palisade  to  be  built  entirely  around 
the  hamlet,  with  stone  towers  at  intervals  to 
guard  against  further  attack.  (Annals  of  St. 
Louis,  Billon.) 


XXI 

LAST  YEARS  OF  DE  LANGLADE 

HE  soon  retired  to  the  bosom  of  his  family 
at  Green  Bay,  where  he  attended  to  his 
duties  of  Captain  of  the   Indian  Depart- 
ment, and   made  an  effort  to  repair  his  fortune 
much  embarrassed  by  his  active  participation  in 
the  war.     In  the  spring  of  1783  he  made  this  re- 
port in  the  French  language  to  his  superior  offi- 
cer, Captain  Daniel  Robertson,  •  commanding  at 
Mackinaw. 

"LA  BAYE,  March  5,  1783. 

"Governor: — These  presents  are  to  assure  you 
of  my  most  humble  respect,  and  to  inform  you 
that  according  to  what  some  Puants  report  when 
the  Traders  crossed  the  portage  of  the  Ouiscon- 
sin,  their  nation  wanted  to  plunder  them,  that  in 
the  confusion  there  was  a  Puant  called  Boeuf- 
banc  killed,  and  that  to  be  revenged,  they  took 
from  Sieur  Reilh  the  worth  of  five  or  six  pieces  of 
money  in  drink  and  in  other  things,  and  as  they 
were  still  drunk  when  Monsieur  Blondeau  passed, 
he  was  obliged  to  give  them  also  a  great  deal  of 
spoil  in  order  to  save  his  life.  There  were  forty 
Sauteux  men,  women  and  children  that  ate  one 
another,  so  long  had  they  fasted  in  the  Bey  des 
Nosques.  Caron,  chief  of  the  folles-avoines,  died 


252  CHARLESDELANGLADE 

the  third  of  November,  and  a  man  named  Mar- 
cotte,  a  trader,  was  killed,  we  don't  know 
whether  by  the  Sauteux  or  the  Sioux,  but  his  three 
men  were  saved,  although  two  were  wounded. 

I  hope  to  have  soon  the  honor  to  go  and  offer 
you  my  most  humble  respect,  and  if  you  have 
need  of  my  services  command  me  whenever  you 
please,  you  will  find  me  always  ready  to  receive 
your  orders,  for  I  am  always  with  the  greatest 
respect,  Governor,  the  faithful  servant  of  the 
King.  LANGLADE, 

Captain  of  the  Indian  Department." 

His  eldest  daughter,  Charlotte  Catharine,  who 
was  born  on  the  banks  of  the  Grand  River,  Mich- 
igan, January  the  twenty-ninth,  1756,  had 
married  Mr.  Barcellon,  and  died  the  year  after. 
But  his  daughter,  Louise  Domitilde,  who  was  born 
in  January  1759,  at  Mackinaw,  and  married  at 
seventeen  years  of  age,  in  1776  to  Pierre  Grignon, 
bad  given  birth  to  nine  children,  surrounding 
her  warrior  father  with  a  healthy  band  of  grand- 
children, which  filled  the  house  with  laughter 
and  song.  M.  Grignon  was  first  a  voyageur  in 
the  lake  region,  and  afterward  traded  for  himself 
at  Green  Bay,  before  1763. 

He  had  by  his  first  wife,  who  was  a  Menomonee 
woman,  three  children.  One  was  killed  by  a  fall 
when  quite  young;  another  died  at  Montreal 
while  at  school;  and  the  third,  Pierriche  raised  a 
family,  by  his  marriage  with  a  daughter  of 


CHARLES    DELANGLADE  253 

"Morning  Glory, "  the  Queen  of  the  Winnebagoes, 
whose  home  was  at  Doty  Island,  at  the  foot  of 
Lake  Winnebago.  This  Queen  had  married  a 
French  trader,  De  Carrie  who  was  a  retired  Cap- 
tain in  the  French  service,  and  fell  mortally 
wounded  on  the  plains  of  Abraham,  where  he  led 
the  Winnebago  with  de  Langlade. 

By  Grignon's  marriage  with  Miss  de  Langlade 
there  were  born  nine  children.  After  Mr.  Grig- 
non's death  in  1759,  his  wife  married  a  Canadian, 
Jean  Baptiste  Langevin.  There  are  numerous 
descendants  of  Pierre  Grignon  still  living  in  the 
Fox  river  valley  in  Wisconsin.  Augustin  Grig- 
non, perhaps  the  most  distinguished  of  the 
family,  died  at  Butte  des  Morts  above  Oshkosh, 
at  the  Porlier  home  and  was  buried  in  the  yard, 
about  two  hundred  feet  east  of  the  house,  where 
his  grave  is  still  unmarked.  Prior  to  his  mar- 
riage to  Miss  Bourassa,  Charles  de  Langlade 
was  married  by  the  Indian  rite,  then  common  on 
the  frontier,  to  an  Ottawa  woman,  by  which 
marriage  his  son  Charles  de  Langlade,  Jr.  was 
born,  whom  he  had  carefully  educated  at  Mont- 
real. This  son  was  engaged  as  interpreter  at 
Mackinaw  during  the  American  Revolution  and 
afterward  lived  at  Green  Bay.  He  was  in  the 
English  service  in  1812,  at  Mackinac,  under  com- 
mand of  Captain  Roberts.  He  was  married  to 
an  Ottawa  woman,  who  bore  him  two  daughters 
and  two  sons,  Charles  and  Louis  de  Langlade. 


254  OHARLESDELANGLADE 

Louis  was  a  Lieutenant  in  the  war  of  1812  pro- 
moted for  distinguished  service.  It  is  this  family 
of  Charles  de  Langlade  senior  which  transmits 
his  name  to  posterity.  A  number  of  their  des- 
cendants remain  in  Wisconsin,  some  of  them  re- 
siding in  Langlade  County. 

De  Langlade  through  his  position  as  Captain 
of  the  Indian  department,  obtained  a  fair  income. 
Her  Majesty's  government  for  his  distinquished 
services  in  the  Revolutionary  war  gave  him  a 
life  annuity  of  eight  hundred  dollars.  He  was 
also  granted  three  thousand  acres  of  land  on  the 
river  Thames,  then  called  La  Trench,  in  the  Pro- 
vince of  Ontario.  He  also  owned  a  square  mile 
of  land  at  Green  Bay,  which  was  claimed  by  his 
daughter,  Domitilde  and  confirmed  by  the  Com- 
missioners of  the  United  States  who  set  off  these 
lands  in  1823. 

As  Captain  of  the  Militia  and  a  military  hero 
of  renown,  the  citizens  every  j^ear  on  the  first  of 
May,  planted  in  front  of  his  residence,  a  tall  pine 
flag  staff.  On  saluting  the  May,  a  Canadian  cus- 
tom which  gave  its  name  to  the  fete,  the  staff  be- 
came completely  blackened  over  with  powder, 
before  the  close  of  the  day.  De  Langlade  ac- 
cepted these  demonstrations  in  his  honor  with 
dignity  and  good  nature,  after  rewarding  the 
guests  with  a  keg  of  wine. 

As  late  as  the  spring  of  1800  de  Langlade  was 
engaged  in  making  peace  between  warring  tribes 


CHARLESDELANGLADE  255 

of  savages.  On  February  twenty-fifth  he  sent 
two  savages  to  Lieutenant  Drummond,  informing 
him  of  the  peace.  A  few  days  after  this  he  took 
a  severe  cold,  causing  his  death,  after  an  illness 
of  two  weeks,  on  about  the  fifteenth  of  March, 
1800,  at  the  age  of  seventy-one.  He  was  buried 
in  Green  Bay.  The  following  letter  in  acknowl- 
edgement of  his  report  of  the  peace,  is  supposed 
to  have  been  received  after  his  death. 

ISLE  ST.  JOSEPH,  March  11,  1800. 

Monsieur: — It  is  with  much  pleasure  that  I  learn 
from  your  letter  of  the  25th  February,  that  you 
have  succeeded  in  arresting  the  quarrels  among 
the  savage  nations  who  have  been  at  war.  I  hope 
it  will  be  the  means  of  securing  a  general  peace 
among  them,  and  at  the  same  time  convince  them 
of  the  attention  and  regard  bestowed  upon  them 
by  the  Britanic  Government.  I  hope  that  you 
will  continue  your  efforts  in  ensuring  this  peace, 
which  is  so  much  desired  by  the  whole  world. 

I  will  take  care  to  inform  them  at  Quebec  by 
the  first  opportunity  of  your  success.  The  two 
Indians  have  received  presents  for  their  trouble 
and  provisions  to  take  back  with  them  for  their 
nourishment.  The  savages  will  bring  back  the 
gun  you  sent  for. 

Awaiting  the  pleasure  of  seeing  you  this  spring, 
I  am, 

Your  very  humble  servant, 

PETER  DRUMMOND,  Commanding." 

"ToCapt.  Langlade. 


256  CHARLES    DE    LANGLADE 

St.  Joseph's  Island  is  in  St.  Mary's  river,  near 
to  Drummond's  Island,  at  the  mouth  of  that 
stream,  where  it  flows  into  Lake  Huron;  and  the 
latter  Island,  long  British  headquarters  for  In- 
dian affairs,  very  likely  received  its  name  from 
Lieut.  Drummond. 

Madam  Langlade  survived  her  husband  eight- 
een years,  dying  in  Green  Bay  in  1818  at  the  age 
of  seventy-five. 

Lyman  C.  Draper,  in  closing  his  report  of  his 
Grignon  Recollections  of  Charles  de  Langlade, 
says  of  him: 

"Thus  passed  away  theSieur  Charles  de  Lang- 
lade,  whose  long  life  was  one  of  varied  excite- 
ment, replete  with  martial  deeds,  and  scenes  of 
deepest  interest  in  the  forest  and  among  the  sav- 
ages. He  had,  as  he  often  stated,  been  in  ninety- 
nine  battles,  skirmishes,  and  border  forays,  and 
used  to  express  a  desire  in  his  old  age  that  he 
could  share  in  another,  so  as  to  make  the  number 
one  hundred. 

He  was  mild  and  patient,  but  could  never  brook 
an  insult,  friendly  and  benevolent  in  his  feelings, 
and  was  devotedly  loved  by  all  classes  of  his 
acquaintances.  He  was  very  industrious,  and 
always  employed  in  some  useful  occupation; 
often  chopping  his  own  wood  and  hewing  tim- 
ber for  houses.  He  was  of  medium  height,  about 
five  feet  nine  inches,  a  square  built  man,  rather 
heavy,  but  never  corpulent.  His  head  was  bald, 


CHARLESDELANGLADE  257 

and  in  his  old  age  the  hair  on  the  sides  of  his 
head  had  a  silvery  whiteness;  his  eyes  were  large 
and  deep  black,  with  very  heavy  eye-brows  grown 
together.  His  face  was  round  and  full,  and  he 
presented  alltogether  a  fine  appearance.  When 
dressed,  as  I  have  often  seen  him  in  his  British 
scarlet  uniform,  his  military  chapeau,  his  sword 
and  red  morocco  belt,  he  exhibited  as  fine  a  mar- 
tial appearance  as  any  officer  I  ever  beheld." 
"It  is  creditable  to  the  intelligence  and  cultiva- 
tion of  the  de  Langlade's  and  other  early  settlers 
at  Green  Bay,  that  a  distinguished  French  noble- 
man, upon  visiting  the  country  many  years  ago, 
should  express  his  surprise  at  hearing  from  the 
natives  of  the  country,  the  French  language  spo- 
ken with  the  same  purity  and  elegance,  to  which 
he  was  accustomed  to  hear  it  in  Paris." 

NOTE:— "I  know  that  a  silver  buckle  of  de  Lang-lade  is 
referred  to  in  Grig-non's  Memoirs;  but  that  buckle  is  not  in 
evidence  to-day.  It  certainly  has  not  been  in  the  museum 
to  my  knowledge  during-  the  seventeen  years  that  I  have 
been  in  charg-e.  Our  janitor,  who  has  been  here  eight 
years,  tells  me  he  has  never  seen  it." — From  letter  to  the 
author  by  Dr.  Reuben  Gold  Thwaits,  Secretary  of  Wiscon- 
sin Historical  Society,  Madison,  November  9,  1903. 


[THE  END] 


INDEX. 

Page 
Abercrombie,  General  .......  121 

Allegheny  river     .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .     •   47 

Appleton  .........  40 

Aux  Beaufs  .........        61 

Bennington         .......                        .  214 

Beujeu,  Captain    .........  77 

Bieuville,  Captain       ........  46 

Bourossa,  Rene;  Charlotte  Ambroisine        .....  55 

Braddock,  Genei-al      ........  67 

Burgoyne,  General          ........  197 

Burned  Camp    .........  115 

Butte  des  Morta     .........  41 

Canada    .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  135,  139 

CahokUi        ........  182, 237, 241 

Captain  Jack    .........  69 

Chatauqua  Lakes  ........        47 

Chicago 240,249 

Chippewas  ........    66,  182,  183 

Clark,  George  Roger  .....  229,  237,  238,  247 

Crown  Point  ........         123,  125 

Cumberland        .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .          62, 67,  103 

Detroit  .........  50, 60 

DeLanglade,  Augustine         .  .  .  .  .  .  .      19,  30 

DeLanglade,  Charles,  birth  20,  fights  Wea  24,  education  30,  settles 
at  La  Baye  31,  anecdotes  34,  massacre  of  Foxes  37,  fights  Sacs 
43,  battle  of  Pickawillany  46,  marriage  55,  Northwest  Tribes  58, 
Braddock's  Defeat  63,  Grand  River  101,  Ensign  103,  Fort  Cum- 
berland 103,  fight  for  money  chest  104,  fight  with  Col.  Parker 
107,  Fort  William  Henry  110,  officer  at  Old  Mackinaw  120,  mas- 
sacre of  Grants  Hill  129,  honest  accounts  138,  Quebec  142,  Louis 
XV  commissions  him  Lieutenant  160,  lowers  French  ensign  at 
Mackinaw  171,  England  in  Canada  171,  Pontiac  Conspiracy  175, 
Massacre  of  Mackinaw  189,  saves  Captain  Ethei-ington  192, 
American  Revolution  201,  with  Burgoyne  206,  Red  war  hatchet 
217,  George  Roger  Clark  228,  at  Milwaukee  230,  his  finances  233, 
Massacre  of  St.  Louis  236,  May  day  254,  family  252,  Death  256. 

Demoiselle,  Chief  la  .......  48 

DePeyster,     .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .200 

Doty  Island       .........  65 

Duquesne,  Fort       .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .    61, 63,  127 

Edward,  Fort    .........  115 

Erie 60,  182 

Etherington,  Captain  .......  174 

Fox  Indians  .........      37 


INDEX— Continued  Page 

French  Creek    .........  60 

Frontenac     ..........      46 

Gautier,  de  Verville    .......         66,  206,  217 

Gon-ell,  Captain  James    .......  179 

Grand  Haven      .........          101 

Grand  Chute  .........     40 

Grand  river,  Michigan  .......          101 

Grant,  Major  .........    129 

Green  Bay  .  .  .  .  .  .  .        31, 43,  55,  137,  177 

Illinois  ..........      60 

Indiana  .........  85 

Indians          .          .  .  .  .  .          .          .       109,  113 

Jesuits      .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .    55,  109 

Johnstone,  Chevalier         .......  151 

Kaskaskia  .  ,  .  .  .  .  182, 242 

Kingston         .  .  .  .  .  .         '  .  .  .  .46 

LaBaye       .  .  .  .  .  .          .  .  .  .    32, 43 

Lafayette  City,  Ind.  ........    25 

L'Arbre  Croche     .  .  .  .  .  .  .  65,  133 

Lake  George    .  ......     113,  122 

Leyba,  Don  de        .  .  •         .  .  .  .  .  .  .      242 

LeBoeufs  .  ...  .  .  .  .  .      182, 61 

Lead  Mines  .........      239 

Lignery,  Captain       .  ...  .  .  .  .  .  24 

Ligonier,  Pa.          .  .  .  ...         ...  .  .127 

Loyal  Hanna  .  .    '  .  .  .  .  .  127 

Louvigny,  Major  de          .  .  .  .  .  ,  .  .19 

Matchekewis    .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .         183,  195, 24o 

Mackinaw,  Old       .  .  ......  .  19, 20,  21,  137 

Mackinac,  Strait  19,  Island  .          .          .          .          .  .  19 

Marin  ...  ....          ..  .  .  .  38,  114 

Marinette,  Wis. 35 

Menaeha,  Wis.        .  .  .  ...  .  .  65,  114 

Menomonee       .  .  .  .       -   «  .  .  .  .  66 

McCrea,  Jane          .  .  .  .  .  ...  .     210 

Miamis  Indians  ........  48 

Miami  river  .  .  .  .•          ....  .  .47 

Maumee  river  .  .  .  .  .  .  ..          .     48,  182 

Michigan       .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .      19 

Milwaukee         .  .  .  ...  .  .  .    229,  231 

Montreal        .........  165 

Montcalm,  Marquis     .  .  .  .  .  .       107,  121.  189 

Necessity,  Fort       .........      62 

Niagara,  Fort  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .      46, 47 

Nissowaquet  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  20,  24 


INDEX—  Continued  Page 

Ohio            .......  •                        46,47,59 

Ohio  Company 

Ouitanon  (Quitanon  of  the  text—  an  error),  Wea,  .                       .    25,  188 

Ottawas           ....                       .  20,24,51,65,110,181,182 

Parker,  Colonel    . 

Pennsylvania  •  •  .  ,    4 

Pencour  (St.  Louis)         .  •        23? 

Pickawillany 

Piqua 

Pittsburg 

Portland,  N.  Y.     . 

Pottawattamies 

Pontiac        .  .  78>  181 

Presque  Isle    .  .        60,  182 

Prairie  du  Chien  •       249 

Quebec  .      -    .  .  ••-'.,..  •          141,136,139 

Kevolutionary  War 

Sabath  Day  Point     .  .  lu 

Savage  Mountain  .....•••         72 

JO 

Sac  Indians  . 

Sandusky  Fort      . 

South  Bend     . 

Sinclair,  Captain 

St.  Francis     . 

St.  Ignace  . 

St.  Joseph       ...  .182,205 

St.  Louis     . 

Thunder  Bay  ....  I82 

•I  A 

Three  Rivers         . 
Ticonderoga 

Vaudreul,  Governor 

Venango         .  .61,  182 

Velie,  de      . 

Virginia 

Vincennes,  Fort 

Washington,  Major  George  .  80  >  69>  %* 

Wabash  river        ...  .25,  182 

Wabasha,  Chief         ....  • 


Wea  Indians 


24 


. 

William  Henry,  Fort  •      107'  115 

Winnebago  Indians        .  65,  11< 


Wisconsin 


114 


Wolf,  General       .....  .139 


.rtir  m"*  «**"»-- — 


UC  SOUTHERN  ^JJ^ 

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